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Public sector pay: it was Social Partnership wot done it
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As an appetiser for the report of An Bord Snip Nua, the Dept of Finance has released its annual analysis of exchequer pay and pensions for the period 2004-2009. It reaffirms things that we would already know from other data, such as that the bulk of public sector pay costs are in health and education. But here’s a little nugget from the analysis of the total paybill –
increases over the period due to general rounds total €2,952m (or 21.5%), “special” pay increases (including Benchmarking) total €294m (or 2.1%), and other factors (such as extra numbers) total €1,341m (or 9.8 %).
Note that these percentages are breakdowns of the total 33.4% increase in public sector pay, not shares of 100%.
Thus once the first phase of benchmarking was done, the process became a bit player in the growth of public sector pay. The regular national pay rounds plus increases in numbers explain virtually all of what was going on. One question for the union beards who were around the table year after year negotiating these increases: is there any concrete evidence that improvements in public sector service quality as opposed to the 2 obvious priorities of higher pay and more numbers were on their list of objectives? It’s important to keep in mind as everyone runs away from the benchmarking process that it’s only a small part of explaining why so much extra money didn’t produce better outcomes.
P’O'Neill – Sir – or Madam,
The point at issue is that there have been increases AT ALL – at a time when reductions are required – as has been necessary – and activated all across the Private Sector.
The amount & volume of the increases are a National Disgrace, but hardly surprising when Taoiseach Bertie Ahern was giving 110% support to Begg; O’Connor; Doran; Halpenny & the other beards…
And the Issue is NOT a Reduction in Services.
Cuts are necessary, but must not in the medical care of patients at risk; nor the preparation of our youth for gainful employment.
Public Sector “workers” in The Departments Of Health and Education are paper-processors; bean-counters and pen-pushers, idling out their minutes as they wait for their fat, non-contributary pensions and annual gifts courtesy of Begg; O’Connor and well-known Mexican orator – de Bert.
Cut their nunbers by 75% and none will be missed and the cost of stationery will be significant.
And the Dail could do with a similar trim, starting with Bertie Ahern; Martin Cullen & Michael Woods!
If you have any doubt about the facts, read the article from today’s Irish Independent.
It could be prophetic & the IMF are already very concerned at the waste they see in Ireland’s bloated Public Sector.
By Kevin Myers
PUBLIC SERVANTS TOO STUPID OR TOO DEMENTED TO ADMIT WE’RE BROKE.
Myers is a tit. When he stumbles upon a decent point, he likes to cover it with steaming turds so it’s difficult to finish one of his masterpieces without feeling unclean.
Myers talks about The Public Sector and The Private Sector as though they were uniform groups. He acknowledges that ‘some’ temporary jobs have gone, but then acts as though this was unimportant. In the HSE alone, over 1000 have lost their jobs, and their colleagues have to pick up the slack to the point that’s possible. So while ‘some’ in the public sector have lost their jobs ‘everyone with jobs in the private sector lost money.’ Is he really so idiotic as to believe that literally ‘everyone’ in the private sector took a pay reduction? I have not yet made up my mind whether this is because he is too stupid or too demented. It really doesn’t matter. He’s probably just playing his usual, old, silly game of semantic slaner.
People calling for lay offs in the back offices of public service organisations probably have a point. The problem is that the inefficiencies are structural. Had we the proper systems in place, we could get rid of these bean pushing, pencil-counters, but if you take out these people without first reforming the systems, the result would be disaster.
Where there have been lay-offs, there has been damage. For instance, when the HSE let 19 nurses go in Sligo, there was an impact on services. Increased classroom size will have an impact on the education levels of our youth.
SORRY:
I seem to have omitted the critical article – Spot-On comments.
Sos,
We try to avoid posting full articles by other writers on here, we prefer to send the traffic to the website the person who wrote it works for. I edited your first comment and added a link to the article you referenced.
What the hell is this? A treatment for a movie called “When Morons Attack”?
Mark,
Appreciate the point you made.
I just felt that Kevin Myers was far more eloquent in analysing the mess caused by Bertie Ahern and his comrades in the Movement.
No doubt, it will be the IMF that will take conrol.
It has ever been so.
Should make a good subject matter for future lectures by de Bert.
He might target Iceland. They had similar problems.
Has anyone made the point that Professor el Bert was in Honduras a few months before the roof caved in there?
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0221/1224241586161.html
Not so surprising, P O’N.
Deep down this person is a craven coward – who fooled a lot of people with his phony humility.
He must be laughing into his mug of imported Bass every night – as he makes his bloated expense claims; rides in his Mercedes-Benz, with his Garda driver, on continuous overtime – and jets around the planet talking shite to bewildered Mexicans & the like – all at the expense of the PAYE workers in the Private Sector (that is, those who still have a job).
This person, along with Martin Cullen & Micheal Woods – three of the worst disasters in modern Irish history – should be impeached for crimes against the State.
I wonder what Carty & the Irish Mess might have written.