Its a bit out of context .... maybe ?
I was making the point that it comes down to spending what we can afford. What people deserve, or think they deserve, or whose fault it is, is irrelevant. Ireland Inc is spending money it doesn’t have and so has to spend less. That’s all there is to it.
I agree. But people can see this very clearly when it comes to cuts in Public Sector pay but start to scream blue murder when it comes to abolishing free university fees or means testing child benefit and so on.
A new round of benchmarking is due - this time it should be down to reflect the comparison with the private sector. If benchmarking was fair on the way up it should be fair on the way down.
I can see quite clearly that the public sector pay bill is going to have to be reduced, whether by reducing staff numbers or introducing pay cuts. However, what I cannot understand is the way some private sector workers seem to regard this as a kind of victory for themselves. Do they not realise the huge ramifications it will have for them and their jobs as hundreds of thousands of PS workers cut back on food shopping, hang on to their old cars, recycle their kids' clothes, cancel their gym membership, stop eating out, avoid using taxis etc etc. Not only will it directly affect these businesses but also their various suppliers. Public Sector pay may well be cut in the coming months but this will be, in effect, a pay cut for everyone who is lucky enough to hang onto their jobs.
i think the situation is gone beyond price deflation or wage deflation, these proposed cuts are not some well thought out fiscal strategy. Its about not going bankrupt, lets stay afloat 1st! Bottom line you cant maintain the same pay levels if your income is 33bn and your expenditure is 50bln. Comparision with the pay in the private sector or benchmarking really has nothing to do with it,there is no basis to compare pay with other countries or other sectors, we cant afford the bill!
i agree. What i'm saying is, some misguided private sector workers seem to feel a reduction in public sector pay is a victory for themselves, not realising we will all be suffering from less income as a result. Im not saying it's avoidable, just that it's not an easy solution for anyone, wherever they work.
One thing that hasn't been mentioned much is that this is the best chance the government will ever have to reform the public service.
Reports over the weekend suggest the government will cut pay by 5% to yield a gross saving of 1 billion. Why not put it back to the unions that if they can make this saving by natural wastage and changing work practices and allowances, then core pay will not be cut?
It will give an incentive for employees to embrace change.
This is the big problem. If you put it back to the unions, they'll just spread the 5% cut across everyone. And this is the mistake that the Government makes also. An across the board cut is totally wrong. You should be able to cut a lot more than 5% off the public sector wage bill by getting rid of surplus staff in some areas and staff who have no work to do because their programmes are not receiving as much funding.
Why should we pay ANY wages to staff who are surplus to requirements? The cuts should reflect what the customer i.e. the taxpayer wants in terms of efficiencies.
Then cut the unions out and speak to the heads of each division.
If the government stated it would not cut core pay if certain targets could be met I think most employees would respond positively. Less numbers employed would also mean lower pension costs in the future.
As a Civil Servant you have no idea how much I would love to see some real reform, proper deployment of staff etc. There is an awful lot of good things in the Public Sector and some really excellent workers but there is also a lot of wastage, inefficiences and terrible waste of talent and enthusiasm which then turns into cynicism and demotivation.
a target number of mandatory redundancies.
As a Civil Servant you have no idea how much I would love to see some real reform, proper deployment of staff etc. There is an awful lot of good things in the Public Sector and some really excellent workers but there is also a lot of wastage, inefficiences and terrible waste of talent and enthusiasm which then turns into cynicism and demotivation.