Public sector employment

[Von Smallhausen]

I am not worried about my job in the public sector.

I am worried about the service the public receives as policing is being cut and has been for the last two years.

 

[PMKeates]

You cant have it both ways, without items such as licenses, enforcement on parking on street, fines it would just be anarchy surely?

Why not Let everyone do what they want when they want, let the streets get full of litter, park where you like, flytip rubbish in every street you can find, let people run as a taxi service without being tested.

Lets take waste, the Council I work out for gets 47p per week per household for a refuse collection, lets make it private then, do you believe your get waste picked up weekly for 47p.... dream on its not going to happen.

We can already see what the private firms like NCP have done with car parks, no one can afford to go near them without first getting a loan.

I can have it any way I like. Whether a fine or license is justified is completely separate from it's definition as a tax. If it were not for these fines then other more direct taxes would rise to compensate or the services would be cut. The public provides the money in every case.

There are better ways to prevent abuse of public facilities than imposing fines. Making me write a cheque is probably less likely to make me think twice about fly-tipping than 50 hours community service cleaning up the mess.

With regards to the 47p, the reduction in subsidising taxes/fees/penalties/fines whatever it is that pays for it, which is something from the public purse, would probably balance it out. Whatever is paying the rest of the rubbish disposal bill is coming from somewhere, and it's highly likely it's not thin air.

 

[kwerk]

Quite. Before the financial crisis hit Gordon was spending money like it was going out of fashion. The recession, and the reduction in tax receipts that caused (the best prediction for 2009/10 was £608 Bn - post recession this was £507.5), sent Gordon's pretty wanton debt plans in to orbit. If you look at the figures it was planning for debt, then planning for more debt, then more debt and then oh, recession, the house of cards has fallen down.

Let's take a walk down memory lane...

"The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money." - Margaret Thatcher

 

[kwerk]

They'll still have to pay benefits.

Says who?

 

[panthro]

I work in nuclear decommissioning, been there for the last 3.5 years. In a country the size of ours its not a job that can be rushed.

We had Americans over, at great expense, their ideology on the process was knock the plant down and move on. Of course, over there, it's far easier to adopt that policy as they have a far greater land mass, they just 'set and forget'.

Interesting. I thought private sector companies were handling those jobs, such as BNFL?

 

[Floogie]

"The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money." - Margaret Thatcher

"The collapse of the global marketplace would be a traumatic event with unimaginable consequences. Yet I find it easier to imagine than the continuation of the present regime." - George Soros

Look, we can do quotes too!

 

[Robbo]

Haha I love how you've all got so defensive, was only a passing joke. Golly times must be tense in the tea rooms at the moment

Funny you mentioned that actually, when I last worked for a division of the Council, they had a 15 minute tea break every hour.

Money well spent and all that jazz

 

[Meridian]

Yes, lets just blame the bankers....

I didn't, I blamed the government for not letting them fail by handing them a vast chunk of money. That said, quite a few of the bankers should be strung up as well.


M

 

[The Mad Rapper]

That's the entire point of not making cuts until next year. To ensure that there will be jobs for these people to migrate to. At the moment, there isn't.

O'rly? What's going to happen between now and then to generate the jobs then? The reality is that the City is already recruiting again, start slashing public sector jobs now and force them to move I say. Reduce the wage and pension burden on the Exchequer as soon as possible.

 

[Raumarik]

Says who?

Oh so now you're thinking the tories will scrap all benefits - unlikely as there would be riots on the streets. Unless you think the X million people in the UK on them will simply sit there and starve.

 

[The Mad Rapper]

Funny you mentioned that actually, when I last worked for a division of the Council, they had a 15 minute tea break every hour.

Money well spent and all that jazz

This. Public sector workers are work shy clock watchers. They need to start working properly for their wages - you'd probably find you could do the same amount of work with half the staff.

 

[The Mad Rapper]

Oh so now you're thinking the tories will scrap all benefits - unlikely as there would be riots on the streets. Unless you think the X million people in the UK on them will simply sit there and starve.

Just put them in uniform and send them to Afghanistan. Women and children as well.

 

[Raumarik]

O'rly? What's going to happen between now and then to generate the jobs then? The reality is that the City is already recruiting again, start slashing public sector jobs now and force them to move I say. Reduce the wage and pension burden on the Exchequer as soon as possible.

Only possible if the public sector workers made unemployed are able to do the jobs the city wants, bare in mind that it won't be the managers and supervisors that lose their jobs first by any means and it'll be the lowest paid who are shown the door first.

 

[Raumarik]

Just put them in uniform and send them to Afghanistan. Women and children as well.

Only if the bankers go first.

 

[The Mad Rapper]

Only if the bankers go first.

I don't think so, I've done my tour already thanks

 

[The Mad Rapper]

Only possible if the public sector workers made unemployed are able to do the jobs the city wants, bare in mind that it won't be the managers and supervisors that lose their jobs first by any means and it'll be the lowest paid who are shown the door first.

That's not true. Any rational cull will shed senior and middle management positions first, because they are the most draining in terms of salary and pension. The lowest of the low are generally disposed of last, you need someone to do the work at the coalface as it were.

 

[Dolph]

It's about time the public sector caught up with the rest of the UK, especially as funding the massively inefficient, bloated mess is part of the reason the national deficit and debts have expanded so much.

Reform and redundancies are the only way.

That's not true. Any rational cull will shed senior and middle management positions first, because they are the most draining in terms of salary and pension. The lowest of the low are generally disposed of last, you need someone to do the work at the coalface as it were.

You forget that the structural incentive in the public sector is to do the opposite, because bad service increases future income, whereas good service decreases it. It's one area that requires massive reform of the way we run the services to get proper structural incentives in place to improve things otherwise any fix made will be both unnecessarily painful and temporary.

 

[nichorob]

Not worried in the slightest. We have been told that the budget cutbacks can be made through natural wastage and scrappage of things like the 30+ scheme. I still got my pay rise in April and due another in September.

 

[Will]

Slightly worried here, though since I work in the job centre I would hope that since unemployment is probably going to rise, that it might be worth keeping most of us on the side of the desks we already sit at rather than adding to the unemployment figures?

Those employees on fixed term contracts have already been told that they are unlikely to be renewed though, and funding for certain things has been cut drastically - staff training seems to have been pared back and certain funds that were available to help customers into work have been tightened up considerably. The cost cutting has started already.

 

[GAC]

it started last year Will, my local jobcenter went to a 3 day week to "help with customers more efficiently" acording to one of the advisors. so cutting will probably mean closing it fully.

as for our local council they are aiming to save £2mill over 3 years. god knows what will be cut as they run the bins,parks and street cleaning with limited staff as it is.