Boards.ie is obsessed with the Public Sector

foxymm

I'm a qualified Secondary school teacher since 2005. I'm 26 years old and this year I bought my new home. Today, I was on the picket line defending my rights, my pay & conditions against further cuts by this incompetent government as well as standing in solidarity with all of the other 250,000 public servants across the country. I'm sick, sore and tired of defending the fact that I have a job that I love doing everyday and work hard at. I don't and should not apologise for getting paid for the work that I do. In the boom years of the Celtic Tiger; when bankers, builders, lawyers and solicitors rubbed their greedy hands; public servants were looked down upon. Oh how times have changed and the mighty have fallen

Reading some of the comments that the people of the Public Sector are a "faceless" bunch is quite untrue and misleading. Here are a number of scenarios . . .

You are sick, unwell or injured - you are cared for by the wonderful doctors and nurses of THE PUBLIC SECTOR, often working in extremely challenging and stressful situations.

You are in an accident - you are attended and helped by the professional paramedics of THE PUBLIC SECTOR.

Your home is ablaze - You are rescued and looked after by the brave firemen and women of the PUBLIC SECTOR.

You are in trouble and need help - You phone the Garda Síochana, who work in the PUBLIC SECTOR.

Your kids need schooling and a fruitful education - They are looked after and nurtured by the primary and secondary teachers of THE PUBLIC SECTOR, often in cramped, poorly-equipped and dilapidated schools.

The criminals of this land are put behind bars - The prison officers of THE PUBLIC SECTOR face a daily torrent of abuse and intimidation.

I could go on . . .

"Faceless", I think not.

Dr_Phil

foxymm wrote: »

I'm sick, sore and tired of defending the fact that I have a job that I love doing everyday and work hard at.

You hit the nail on the head here.

Darragh29

foxymm wrote: »

I'm a qualified Secondary school teacher since 2005. I'm 26 years old and this year I bought my new home. Today, I was on the picket line defending my rights, my pay & conditions against further cuts by this incompetent government as well as standing in solidarity with all of the other 250,000 public servants across the country. I'm sick, sore and tired of defending the fact that I have a job that I love doing everyday and work hard at. I don't and should not apologise for getting paid for the work that I do. In the boom years of the Celtic Tiger; when bankers, builders, lawyers and solicitors rubbed their greedy hands; public servants were looked down upon. Oh how times have changed and the mighty have fallen

Reading some of the comments that the people of the Public Sector are a "faceless" bunch is quite untrue and misleading. Here are a number of scenarios . . .

You are sick, unwell or injured - you are cared for by the wonderful doctors and nurses of THE PUBLIC SECTOR, often working in extremely challenging and stressful situations.

You are in an accident - you are attended and helped by the professional paramedics of THE PUBLIC SECTOR.

Your home is ablaze - You are rescued and looked after by the brave firemen and women of the PUBLIC SECTOR.

You are in trouble and need help - You phone the Garda Síochana, who work in the PUBLIC SECTOR.

Your kids need schooling and a fruitful education - They are looked after and nurtured by the primary and secondary teachers of THE PUBLIC SECTOR, often in cramped, poorly-equipped and dilapidated schools.

The criminals of this land are put behind bars - The prison officers of THE PUBLIC SECTOR face a daily torrent of abuse and intimidation.

I could go on . . .

"Faceless", I think not.

There are faceless people behind front line staff, higher civil servants in middle and higher level management positions, who are paid insane salaries and we don't know who they are nor what they do, we know they are there because we have the debt to prove it, but as for what they do, it's anyone's guess. At least with the frontline people like yourself, we can see that they are there and we can see what they do, although I think some of the salaries cannot be justified given the other non pay perks of the job and teachers in my view fall into this category.

At the moment, public sector workers are implying that a 40K-50K salary is basically mickey money.

I don't want to see the Garda or nurse that I might need living on the breadline, but equally I don't see why there is the automatic right to earn up to 80K in these jobs on the basis of service, without any verifiable improvement in performance.

How can you benchmark a teacher against a professional private sector worker when the worker in the private sector has a fraction of the holidays and is held accountable for their performance or otherwise??? The teacher has a guaranteed pension, the private sector worker is at the mercy of the share market. The teacher has job security until retirement and the private sector worker could be two performance reviews away from the dole office???

It seems to me that when it comes to what they think they think they are being deprived of when compared to private sector workers, public sector unions are particularly talented at putting a figure on their perceived loss, however when things like guaranteed pensions, hugely extended holiday leave in some cases, automatic uncertified sick leave entitlements, unquestionable job security, there is this total refusal to even discuss putting a figure on these benefits, straight away, these things become wooly objects that no figure can be attached to for some strange reason...

lmimmfn

foxymm wrote: »

I'm a qualified Secondary school teacher since 2005. I'm 26 years old and this year I bought my new home. Today, I was on the picket line defending my rights, my pay & conditions against further cuts by this incompetent government as well as standing in solidarity with all of the other 250,000 public servants across the country. I'm sick, sore and tired of defending the fact that I have a job that I love doing everyday and work hard at. I don't and should not apologise for getting paid for the work that I do. In the boom years of the Celtic Tiger; when bankers, builders, lawyers and solicitors rubbed their greedy hands; public servants were looked down upon. Oh how times have changed and the mighty have fallen

Reading some of the comments that the people of the Public Sector are a "faceless" bunch is quite untrue and misleading. Here are a number of scenarios . . .

You are sick, unwell or injured - you are cared for by the wonderful doctors and nurses of THE PUBLIC SECTOR, often working in extremely challenging and stressful situations.

You are in an accident - you are attended and helped by the professional paramedics of THE PUBLIC SECTOR.

Your home is ablaze - You are rescued and looked after by the brave firemen and women of the PUBLIC SECTOR.

You are in trouble and need help - You phone the Garda Síochana, who work in the PUBLIC SECTOR.

Your kids need schooling and a fruitful education - They are looked after and nurtured by the primary and secondary teachers of THE PUBLIC SECTOR, often in cramped, poorly-equipped and dilapidated schools.

The criminals of this land are put behind bars - The prison officers of THE PUBLIC SECTOR face a daily torrent of abuse and intimidation.

I could go on . . .

"Faceless", I think not.

ok 3 things:
1. Youre not standing against the government, youre standing against private sector workers, who if your unions get your way we will be taxed more and probably the same as you would get taxed, that would be fair except we stand to lose our jobs any time, that means its not fair, so your stance was against us. The government dont give a toss, the books need to balance ned of story.
2. We in the private sector arent all bankers/developers and all that crap, in fact there were few who brought this country to its knees, out of 1.5 million private sector workers only 5-10k did the damange, they were all big mates of our FF government.
3. This looked down upon thing is nonsense, the private sector only looked down upon the public sector when on average PS salaries were higher on average than that of the private sector.

On your scenarios:
1. Us in the private sector stop working completely or skip country therefore you're unemployed!!!!!!!!!
2. Based on your strike we strike because we find it completely unacceptable what you are doing.
3. Half of the crap provided by the PS is for dole heads, social welfare agencies and all related, heads to look after rent allowance. We in the private sector have to pay our own doctor bills, we dont give a toss about the HSE when the cost is neglible to go private anyway.
4. As for schooling, id happily pay private than put my childs education in the hands of tossers who will go on strike at any given moment.

Of course a lot of it is necessary, hows about the private sector who privide the actual funding to provide all those services???????????

ghost_ie

foxymm wrote: »

I'm a qualified Secondary school teacher since 2005. I'm 26 years old and this year I bought my new home. Today, I was on the picket line defending my rights, my pay & conditions against further cuts by this incompetent government as well as standing in solidarity with all of the other 250,000 public servants across the country. I'm sick, sore and tired of defending the fact that I have a job that I love doing everyday and work hard at. I don't and should not apologise for getting paid for the work that I do. In the boom years of the Celtic Tiger; when bankers, builders, lawyers and solicitors rubbed their greedy hands; public servants were looked down upon. Oh how times have changed and the mighty have fallen

Reading some of the comments that the people of the Public Sector are a "faceless" bunch is quite untrue and misleading. Here are a number of scenarios . . .

You are sick, unwell or injured - you are cared for by the wonderful doctors and nurses of THE PUBLIC SECTOR, often working in extremely challenging and stressful situations.

You are in an accident - you are attended and helped by the professional paramedics of THE PUBLIC SECTOR.

Your home is ablaze - You are rescued and looked after by the brave firemen and women of the PUBLIC SECTOR.

You are in trouble and need help - You phone the Garda Síochana, who work in the PUBLIC SECTOR.

Your kids need schooling and a fruitful education - They are looked after and nurtured by the primary and secondary teachers of THE PUBLIC SECTOR, often in cramped, poorly-equipped and dilapidated schools.

The criminals of this land are put behind bars - The prison officers of THE PUBLIC SECTOR face a daily torrent of abuse and intimidation.

I could go on . . .

"Faceless", I think not.

Well said. I wonder how many of the public service bashers would be prepared to take on the jobs of those you have mentioned?

lmimmfn

ghost_ie wrote: »

Well said. I wonder how many of the public service bashers would be prepared to take on the jobs of those you have mentioned?

easily where do i sign up?, i want all the benefits too. Im sure those recently put on the dole will be jumping at the chance.

Its not like us private sector works do anything, like pay your salaries!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Darragh29

lmimmfn wrote: »

ok 3 things:
1. Youre not standing against the government, youre standing against private sector workers, who if your unions get your way we will be taxed more and probably the same as you would get taxed, that would be fair except we stand to lose our jobs any time, that means its not fair, so your stance was against us. The government dont give a toss, the books need to balance ned of story.
2. We in the private sector arent all bankers/developers and all that crap, in fact there were few who brought this country to its knees, out of 1.5 million private sector workers only 5-10k did the damange, they were all big mates of our FF government.
3. This looked down upon thing is nonsense, the private sector only looked down upon the public sector when on average PS salaries were higher on average than that of the private sector.

On your scenarios:
1. Us in the private sector stop working completely or skip country therefore you're unemployed!!!!!!!!!
2. Based on your strike we strike because we find it completely unacceptable what you are doing.
3. Half of the crap provided by the PS is for dole heads, social welfare agencies and all related, heads to look after rent allowance. We in the private sector have to pay our own doctor bills, we dont give a toss about the HSE when the cost is neglible to go private anyway.
4. As for schooling, id happily pay private than put my childs education in the hands of tossers who will go on strike at any given moment.

Of course a lot of it is necessary, hows about the private sector who privide the actual funding to provide all those services???????????

This is the thing... If they really wanted change, they could lead the change by calling all workers, private and public sector workers, out onto the streets to call for a general election for a start...

They complain that workers are devided but their inability to focus on the real cause of the problem here is fuelling that devision.

gollem_1975

foxymm wrote: »

I'm a qualified Secondary school teacher since 2005. I'm 26 years old and this year I bought my new home. Today, I was on the picket line defending my rights, my pay & conditions against further cuts by this incompetent government as well as standing in solidarity with all of the other 250,000 public servants across the country. I'm sick, sore and tired of defending the fact that I have a job that I love doing everyday and work hard at. I don't and should not apologise for getting paid for the work that I do. In the boom years of the Celtic Tiger; when bankers, builders, lawyers and solicitors rubbed their greedy hands; public servants were looked down upon. Oh how times have changed and the mighty have fallen

Reading some of the comments that the people of the Public Sector are a "faceless" bunch is quite untrue and misleading. Here are a number of scenarios . . .


You are sick, unwell or injured - you are cared for by the wonderful doctors and nurses of THE PUBLIC SECTOR, often working in extremely challenging and stressful situations.

You are in an accident - you are attended and helped by the professional paramedics of THE PUBLIC SECTOR.

Your home is ablaze - You are rescued and looked after by the brave firemen and women of the PUBLIC SECTOR.

You are in trouble and need help - You phone the Garda Síochana, who work in the PUBLIC SECTOR.

Your kids need schooling and a fruitful education - They are looked after and nurtured by the primary and secondary teachers of THE PUBLIC SECTOR, often in cramped, poorly-equipped and dilapidated schools.

The criminals of this land are put behind bars - The prison officers of THE PUBLIC SECTOR face a daily torrent of abuse and intimidation.

I could go on . . .

"Faceless", I think not.

you lose your job in the private sector - you speak to a clerk at your local social welfare office , who works in the PUBLIC SECTOR

etc....

the public sector does do a good job , they are by all accounts doing a great job in the helping victims of flooding at the moment.

theres 100,000's of people working in the public sector so the likelihood is that each and every one of us knows a few of them - they're far from being faceless.

As an ex-private sector worker ( Am now unemployed ) I did not look down on public service workers and don't know anyone else who looked down on them. then again not all private sector workers mix in the same circles as

foxymm wrote: »

bankers, builders, lawyers and solicitors
]

I applied and sat the exams for almost every EO and AO exam from 1995 - 2008 and I can tell you I was among 1,000's of people who sat the exams ( those damn job simulation tests always let me down )

some people argue that there is an entitlement culture within the public services however it could also be viewed as a victim culture. You've been working there for four years and its already got a hold of you.

this incompetent government ( i don't disagree with you on this one ) are the same government that instigated huge increases in spending on health and education during the boom years.

I believe that health and education services have improved over the course of the decade.
There is a perception that value has not been achieved in line with the increases in spending and also that a lot of the increase was eaten up by increased salaries.

my view is that the public wage bill needs to be reduced and that a cut in pay is the most effective way to do it ( With Brian Cowan taking the lead )

lmimmfn

Darragh29 wrote: »

This is the thing... If they really wanted change, they could lead the change by calling all workers, private and public sector workers, out onto the streets to call for a general election for a start...

They complain that workers are devided but their inability to focus on the real cause of the problem here is fuelling that devision.

exactly, they've been running this divide and conquer thing since the begining of the decade. Its running tired now, thing is nobody sees it.

Whether its public or private sector its all about the tossers at the top getting it all handy, i bet there were very few 'fat cat' PS workers out in the pissing rain today? nah they got all the lower paid to do their bidding for them.
In the private sector like the PS we have to pay for the $hit that the private sector fat cats created.

I dont see why private and public sector dont just cop on and realise its not about the lower paid, it never was, it should be about people getting together to destroy the fat cats. Throw out those tarnishing the PS average salary, throw our the tossers in AIB on the board of directors, they largely created the problem, why in the hell should they be there to try and fix it?

Scofflaw

those damn job simulation tests always let me down

If that's the case...maybe it's for the best. Any yen I may ever have had to work in the civil service (never exactly strong) was blowtorched away by those.

I remember one in particular, which involved discussions by a CS working group with "an external consultant". I could visualise myself there very clearly...talking to the CS working group.

As for the Minister's sandwich...

cordially,
Scofflaw

Jack Daniels I

i have zero sympathy for public sector workers.ive had savage tax increases and have no job security..i cant plan my future.the whole public system is a joke.departments opening at 9 or 10,going for an hour or more break and then closing at 2 or 3!!schoolkids work harder than that for christ sake.its so inefficient from top to bottom.FAS is an absolute disgrace for example all the money they have wasted.i work in an industry with lean six sigma as the core basis.this is basically eliminating any waste from a business or manufacturing process.we could use this for cost reduction, improved cycle time and delivery right across the entire public sector.yes its not pretty but it means these guys will work for their wage.the easy ride is over guys.its time to muck in like the rest of us.i work 12 hour shifts and from start to finish its hammer and tongs.this is how wil get this country going again,hard work.yu guys make me sick and watch out for me at the picket lines in my car

houghton88

doc_17 wrote: »

14,000 or around that figure I believe. Too many. I wouldn't touch any public servant earning less than 40k. They have made their contribution already with the pension levy and the other levies.

Good point. Also, why are all the private sector gunning for the public sector. Who else is going to bail us out of the recession? Without milking the public sector where would our rejuvenation funds come from? Many private sector workers choose their respective professions due to the security provided within the job. During the Celtic Tiger, I watched many around me make a pretty penny. Thats just how it goes. I have security. My job is safe. Why hate me for that?. I have had my wages hit once already to help our country get back on her feet. We didn't strike then. Why should I not complain at being hit a second time? when the economy is booming my wages increased but it was still far behind the astronomical increments many of my private sector friends were enjoying. Why exactly is there so much friction between the public and private sectors? There are so many places where money has been lost that was neither sides fault. How much money has been spent on child support to children not living in this country, on dole payments collected by people not living in this country, on houses and welfare payments to illegal entrants to the country. what about our grossly misused social welfare system in general.I am not saying that these are the only factors in our recession but they are factors. Fair enough saying we cant just announce "its not our fault" but we have already taken one wage hit . We have already helped our country. I earn 40k a yr. How many times do the people in the private sector want my wages to be hit? Well? You are complaining about the people who are your hope of getting us out of this recession. I never complained about you and how well many of you did during the good times. I decided to play it safe. I got an honours degree, a job safe through thick and thin and you hate me for that? I have friends and family in the private sector who have lost jobs. I am very slow to complain because I have a job. But it seriously annoys me that members of the private sector lash out at us for standing up for ourselves. I personally think the first pay cut was a duty we had to do for our country. A simple thanks would be nice. Exhaust every other avenue and if we are still in trouble I will gladly take another hit for the good of my country. Until then, I refuse to be lambasted and vilified for playing it safe in my career.

Darragh29

houghton88 wrote: »

Good point. Also, why are all the private sector gunning for the public sector. Who else is going to bail us out of the recession? Without milking the public sector where would our rejuvenation funds come from? Many private sector workers choose their respective professions due to the security provided within the job. During the Celtic Tiger, I watched many around me make a pretty penny. Thats just how it goes. I have security. My job is safe. Why hate me for that?. I have had my wages hit once already to help our country get back on her feet. We didn't strike then. Why should I not complain at being hit a second time? when the economy is booming my wages increased but it was still far behind the astronomical increments many of my private sector friends were enjoying. Why exactly is there so much friction between the public and private sectors? There are so many places where money has been lost that was neither sides fault. How much money has been spent on child support to children not living in this country, on dole payments collected by people not living in this country, on houses and welfare payments to illegal entrants to the country. what about our grossly misused social welfare system in general.I am not saying that these are the only factors in our recession but they are factors. Fair enough saying we cant just announce "its not our fault" but we have already taken one wage hit . We have already helped our country. I earn 40k a yr. How many times do the people in the private sector want my wages to be hit? Well? You are complaining about the people who are your hope of getting us out of this recession. I never complained about you and how well many of you did during the good times. I decided to play it safe. I got an honours degree, a job safe through thick and thin and you hate me for that? I have friends and family in the private sector who have lost jobs. I am very slow to complain because I have a job. But it seriously annoys me that members of the private sector lash out at us for standing up for ourselves. I personally think the first pay cut was a duty we had to do for our country. A simple thanks would be nice. Exhaust every other avenue and if we are still in trouble I will gladly take another hit for the good of my country. Until then, I refuse to be lambasted and vilified for playing it safe in my career.

As a private sector employer, my issue with you is that you want it every which way. You want to be paid the same as me, but at the same time you won't take any of the risk that I have to take on...

I don't mind your total compensation package being equal to mine for comparable work, but I have a major major problem with this notion that you want equal or greater pay than me, and at the moment you are on greater pay than I am, but you're exposed to absolutely none of the risk and none of the responsibility...

I've no problem with you wanting to playing it safe with your career as you put it, but please have the grace and humilty to accept that with that decision should come an understanding that the job security that you value so much, should come with a price tag and you should be paid less in the knowledge that you have a job for life, relative to your private sector counterpart...

The problem here is that the kind of securities and protections that are taken for granted in the public sector, are actually very difficult to come by in the private sector. Say you have a grievance in your workplace and you work in the public sector, you can safely assume that if you take a dispute to the LRC or the Labour Court or your union does it for you, that your employer will (A) turn up at the relevant forum, and (B) respect any recommendation that might be made in your favour. These two assumptions are out the window in a lot of private sector workplaces, I worked for one large multinational in Ireland in the past and when I tried to take a dispute to the LRC, they told me to my face to "f*ck off", something that would be completely unheard of and unaccepted in any public sector employment.

I worked for another company in the private sector who refused to honour terms as agreed, I left the job and took a complaint to the Labour Court, the company turned up to argue the case, lost the argument, and then ignored the recommendation that made against them, without having to worry about any legal consequences whatsoever.

I know someone will come back and say, "ah you should have joined a union!".... I tried that and was told that there was a "gentlemans arrangement" in relation to unions approaching the large multinational employer above, so even though I could join the union, the union couldn't canvas for members within my workplace, or be seen to represent me against this employer for fear that there were "sensitivities" relating to this particular employer at a political level and this could cause "embarrassment".

I'd like to know why the ICTU have decided that many private sector workers are not worthy of membership or representation??? These unions could actually do with the kind of balanced reasoning that non-unionised private sector, largely ignored, unempowered workers could bring to the table...

imme

lmimmfn wrote: »

ok 3 things:
1. Youre not standing against the government, youre standing against private sector workers (1)
2. We in the private sector arent all bankers/developers and all that crap(2)

On your scenarios:

3. Half of the crap provided by the PS is for dole heads, social welfare agencies and all related, heads to look after rent allowance. We in the private sector have to pay our own doctor bills, we dont give a toss about the HSE when the cost is neglible to go private anyway. (3)
4. As for schooling, id happily pay private than put my childs education in the hands of tossers who will go on strike at any given moment. (4)

Of course a lot of it is necessary, hows about the private sector who privide the actual funding to provide all those services???????????

(1) I think the PS workers who went on strike yesterday would see that they striked against the government, NOT against their compatriots in the private sector.
(2) Nobody believes that only bankers are employed in the private sector, many in the PS have worked in the private sector previously or have family/friends in the private sector.
(3) do staff in the PS provide crap? I can't agree with your figure of services provided to 'dole heads' as you call them. People in the PS also have to pay doctors fees/ hospital fees/ prescription charge.
(4) are all teachers 'tossers' as you call them.

mikemac

imme wrote: »

Boards is a talking shop, right? So, it's fairly representative of society at large. Or is it?

Boards.ie certainly is not representative of society.
It might have hundreds of thousands of viewers and members but it's easy enough to see what demographics are here.

And that's but a fraction of the Irish people today

Which is why I do disregard those polls "how are you voting".
The results you get on boards are predictable but don't always work out in the real election
And then posters express outrage "I talked to all my mates and nobody I know voted that way"

imme

Jack Daniels I wrote: »

(1) departments opening at 9 or 10,going for an hour or more break and then closing at 2 or 3!!schoolkids work harder than that for christ sake.its so inefficient from top to bottom.FAS is an absolute disgrace for example all the money they have wasted.
(2) yu guys make me sick and watch out for me at the picket lines in my car

(1) I'm not aware of any govt department/local authority office that opens at 9 or 10 for an hour or so. Lunchtime opening has been brought in to most PS offices in the past number of years.
(2) ur going to run people down?:eek:

Scofflaw

mikemac wrote: »

Boards.ie certainly is not representative of society.
It might have hundreds of thousands of viewers and members but it's easy enough to see what demographics are here.

And that's but a fraction of the Irish people today

Actually, in a population of 4 million or so, a site with hundreds of thousands of viewers is of necessity going to be broadly representative. The demographics of the site may have an age cutoff - quite probably does - but it's almost certainly going to take in the entire horizontal variation in Irish society.

cordially,
Scofflaw

MaceFace

OP: If you saw Primetime last night you would understand the frustration people have with members of the public sector and why they are not making it easy for themselves.

3 joe soaps, I think the first was a teacher on 48k, the second was a local authority civil servant on 34k, and the third a physiotherapist on 55k.

The girl on 55k was saying she was not on a great wage and she shouldn't have to take a cut. When asked where her employer will get the money to continue paying her wages she said she didn't know.

Until members of the public sector come out and start offering realistic alternatives I retain the right to express my current disastisfaction in how my hard earned money is spent.

(while I am on the subject, I would question why that guy was on 34k. I wonder if it would be possible to employ someone to do his job for a lot less, and if so, why don't

mikemac

Scofflaw wrote: »

Actually, in a population of 4 million or so, a site with hundreds of thousands of viewers is of necessity going to be broadly representative. The demographics of the site may have an age cutoff - quite probably does - but it's almost certainly going to take in the entire horizontal variation in Irish society.

And a city and town bias. Fair enough that's where the population centres are.
Many areas of the country don't have broadband and some don't have dial-up at all.

It'd be an interesting topic for another thread someday

I had to google what entire horizontal variation meant

Ste.phen

mikemac wrote: »

I had to google what entire horizontal variation meant

It sounds sexier than it is

P. Breathnach

Scofflaw wrote: »

Actually, in a population of 4 million or so, a site with hundreds of thousands of viewers is of necessity going to be broadly representative. The demographics of the site may have an age cutoff - quite probably does - but it's almost certainly going to take in the entire horizontal variation in Irish society.

I don't think "hundreds of thousands of viewers" tells us much about the demographic here (even supposing that you are correct that they exist in such numbers). The character of boards.ie or any of its forums is linked more with the profile of active participants.

I was tempted to give my estimate of the demographic of this sub-forum, but I don't need the aggro that would ensue.

tommyfitz

tommyfitz wrote: »

Im a public servant for 5 years and my salary is 26k as a clerical officer.
I worked for 25 years in the private sector. The company I worked for, closed down at the height of the so-called Celtic Tiger. Am I overpaid?
Im not permanent and can be let go in the morning. I have taken 2 sick days in last 5 years.
All I read about in the Sunday Independent is what a burden I am on this country. Its Tony O'Reilly and his cronies that are behind all this rubbish that is printed in papers. Divide ordinary working people and make sure the RICH get away with every mistake they make in propertry and investments in banks.

If your job isn't necessary.
Then it must go.If it is necessary,and you have accepted it at those pay rates then fair play to you.
What is it you do?

The reason I ask is I've too many blooming examples at this stage of people telling me that individuals doing clerical jobs in the civil and public service being told by their peers to slow down,that they are doing the job too quick and in one case unbelievably told to do it all over again for fear that the rest of them be found out.
The fact that such a carry on is widespread [and I have it from many of the horses mouths] is an utter disgrace.

P. Breathnach

Deleted User wrote: »

... The reason I ask is I've too many blooming examples at this stage of people telling me that individuals doing clerical jobs in the civil and public service being told by their peers to slow down,that they are doing the job too quick and in one case unbelievably told to do it all over again for fear that the rest of them be found out.
The fact that such a carry on is widespread [and I have it from many of the horses mouths] is an utter disgrace.

Did I lead a charmed life? Most of my career was in the public sector, and I never came across anything like that.

MysticalRain

lmimmfn wrote: »

easily where do i sign up?, i want all the benefits too. Im sure those recently put on the dole will be jumping at the chance.

Its not like us private sector works do anything, like pay your salaries!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I would happily sign up for a job where I had a guaranteed job for life, zero accountability, and pay rises given to me just for doing the same job I've always done and giving nothing extra in return.

I haven't seen that Primetime show yet. But I'm sure my blood will boil when I hear a physiotherapist on 55K griping about how she can't make ends meet. Does she not know how the rest of the country copes on far less wages?

bridgitt

MysticalRain wrote: »

I haven't seen that Primetime show yet. But I'm sure my blood will boil when I hear a physiotherapist on 55K griping about how she can't make ends meet. Does she not know how the rest of the country copes on far less wages?

My blood boiled when I saw the show. I was thinking of starting a thread on it, but there are enough threads on the public sector already. As regards Primetime, as I said before she was carefully picked to try to gather sympathy support for the public sector....the poor girl bought an apartment at the height of the market etc. The other two people on prime time were carefully picked to be among the lowest paid public sector workers. Prime time beforehand asked us to listen to both sides of the argument with an open mind.....but there was nobody else. The average salary ( of the 3 ) quoted / shown was well below the statistical public sector average. Last nights Primetime was RTE propoganda, done by high paid people in or sympathetic to unions , at its most blatant. The previous night Pat Kenny done his best to get us having sympathy for frontline workers by having half the programme dedicated to their hard luck stories, being spat at etc

MysticalRain

bridgitt wrote: »

My blood boiled when I saw the show. I was thinking of starting a thread on it, but there are enough threads on the public sector already. As regards Primetime, as I said before she was carefully picked to try to gather sympathy support for the public sector....the poor girl bought an apartment at the height of the market etc.

Her problem is not low wages. The problem she has is that she can't manage her own finances. I also had the suspicion that if the teacher on the show had managed his finances little better, then he wouldn't be complaining so much either.

P. Breathnach

P. Breathnach wrote: »

Did I lead a charmed life? Most of my career was in the public sector, and I never came across anything like that.

Yes very charmed it seems.
This was a former clerical officer in a co council.
They left because that was the culture in there and they were sick of it.
Basically do as little as possible and wish clocking off time couldn't come sooner.

nesf

Personally. It's not about fairness, justice or who got us into this mess. I genuinely don't bear any ill-will towards public sector workers. I've far too many family and friends in it to do that (ranging from army and prison guards to academics, nurses, teachers and civil service employees). I'd happily work in some parts of it and have been working towards being eligible for several years now.


It's about a 27 billion Euro hole in the budget with 33 billion odd taxes coming in. Before we spend a penny on the banks we are borrowing 500 million euro a week to fund the running of the State. Over 2 billion a month. Think about that for a second. The cuts being looked for are under two months' worth of borrowing before we put a cent into the banks. Just two months, we're still left with 23 odd billion borrowed this year.

We have absolutely no choice but to drastically cut back on spending both on services and the public sector pay bill. We need to broaden the tax band to include more low wage earners as well as increase taxes on the better off.

We need to do all these things to even have a hope of getting out of this.

I don't argue for public sector pay cuts because I think public sector workers are lazy, worthless or because they do a bad job. I don't think any of these things. We need the cuts because we have no choice but to do them. It's not out of any sense of fairness or justice that I argue for them, I can't think of anything fair in arguing for job losses and pay cuts for any group. There's no nice way to put a person out of work or tighten a family's budget so the kids can afford less toys but we have to do it because we've been left no choice by the squandering of public money of the past Government and their social partners. The unions' plan will just make things worse and add years onto any hope of a recovery. We'll rack up 1980's debt levels in 2-3 years people. We're so close to the same mess that for the younger generation our parents had to slog through.

Public sector reform, both in terms of pay cuts, job losses and management pruning are necessary. There isn't a tax base extant in this country to pay for what we have. Despite the pain it'll cause we need to cut back on services and public pay as well as increase the tax burden on the ordinary worker as well as the wealthy. It's that or go bankrupt in a few short years and then we'll be in a far worse situation.

P. Breathnach

Deleted User wrote: »

Yes very charmed it seems.
This was a former clerical officer in a co council.
They left because that was the culture in there and they were sick of it.
Basically do as little as possible and wish clocking off time couldn't come sooner.

So your "too many blooming examples" have now come down to one?

P. Breathnach

P. Breathnach wrote: »

So your "too many blooming examples" have now come down to one?

Nope.
You asked me about one.
But in defending the indefensible,I guess it's easy to attempt to ignore that.