Unions undermine public sector services

patslatt

The Irish public sector in the last forty years has been offering highly paid jobs for life. Its gold plated pensions are indexed not just to inflation alone as in most government pensions worldwide,but to civil service pay categories,which will cost the average family a fortune in future taxes.

If the public sector delivered efficient services,the jobs for life culture and excessive pensions could be overlooked. But since it is run primarily for the benefit of public sector workers as a kind of workers' co-op,service to the public is often third rate.

There was a reminder of this workers' co-op culture in The Sunday Times, March 16th article "HSE plans a 1,000 job cuts", which pointed out that the unions have a "veto on job cuts and even staff transfers since creation of the HSE in 2005". So if the HSE wants to reorganise certain hospital departments in order to consolidate operations into a modern,specialised facility, it has to continue paying the salaries of all the people who do not wish to move.

This talk of a thousand administrative job cuts looks like a PR exercise. Why should job cuts be confined to admin staff,given that the HSE funds the employment of about double the number of nurses per 100,000 population as in France and the UK,with nothing discernible to show for all that extra nursepower?

Other examples of worker overmanning and featherbedding are typical of the public sector in transportation and the ESB.

In the next few years, even as the economy likely enters a period of slow growth and rising unemployment,watch the public sector unions make huge wage demands and achieve increases that will require big tax increases.If tax increases in a weak economy cause mass unemployment, the unemployed can take the proverbial boat to England again as in the 1980s.

gordon_gekko

patslatt wrote: »

The Irish public sector in the last forty years has been offering highly paid jobs for life. Its gold plated pensions are indexed not just to inflation alone as in most government pensions worldwide,but to civil service pay categories,which will cost the average family a fortune in future taxes.

If the public sector delivered efficient services,the jobs for life culture and excessive pensions could be overlooked. But since it is run primarily for the benefit of public sector workers as a kind of workers' co-op,service to the public is often third rate.

There was a reminder of this workers' co-op culture in The Sunday Times, March 16th article "HSE plans a 1,000 job cuts", which pointed out that the unions have a "veto on job cuts and even staff transfers since creation of the HSE in 2005". So if the HSE wants to reorganise certain hospital departments in order to consolidate operations into a modern,specialised facility, it has to continue paying the salaries of all the people who do not wish to move.

This talk of a thousand administrative job cuts looks like a PR exercise. Why should job cuts be confined to admin staff,given that the HSE funds the employment of about double the number of nurses per 100,000 population as in France and the UK,with nothing discernible to show for all that extra nursepower?

Other examples of worker overmanning and featherbedding are typical of the public sector in transportation and the ESB.

In the next few years, even as the economy likely enters a period of slow growth and rising unemployment,watch the public sector unions make huge wage demands and achieve increases that will require big tax increases.If tax increases in a weak economy cause mass unemployment, the unemployed can take the proverbial boat to England again as in the 1980s.

we park our cars in the same garrage my friend

it might also be nice when you enter a state bodys office that the officer behind the counter might not make you feel like you should be eternally gratefull for his or her selfless duty to mother ireland