€5335 for the Dept. of Social protection annual retired staff get together

awec

BraziliaNZ wrote: »

A few creature comforts are fine, in my opinion. Love thai brother etc. You may have a son or daughter in the civil service one day, they're only human.

I may, and I will warn them that working in the public sector will give you an outrageous level of job security with an inflated salary and in return you forego any chance of perks, free food, funded parties and any other interesting add-ons that occur in the private sector.

BraziliaNZ

awec wrote: »

I may, and I will warn them that working in the public sector will give you an outrageous level of job security with an inflated salary and in return you forego any chance of perks, free food, funded parties and any other interesting add-ons that occur in the private sector.

My salary was not inflated, I am on about 7k more at the moment than I was there.
I can see big changes in the next 10 years as regards job security and salaries anyway, you'll get what you want, it'll just take time is all, time for the established older employees to retire and new recruits to be brought in on much harsher terms.

Boombastic

BraziliaNZ wrote: »

......................, time for the established older employees to retire and new recruits to be brought in on much harsher terms.

And when they retire, the money saved from the new recruits can be used to fund their annual get together

Celticfire

Boombastic wrote: »

And when they retire, the money saved from the new recruits can be used to fund their annual get together

Can't wait..... it'll give you something else to moan about.

I dunno.

I work in the public sector.

This wasn't a justifiable use of public funds, whether they were retired, current employees, whatever- makes no difference. It's exchequer funds and (regardless of the state the country's finances are in) those funds shouldn't be thrown around so lightly.

On the other hand- jmayo's declaration that a public servant pays minus figures in tax merely because their employer is the government is laughable stuff, I mean really poor stuff.

And the claims from other numerous posters that because one sector is profit-funded (eg overcharging customers) as opposed to financed by taxes (sorry, I meant 'gouged out of the pocket of the working man') that there should therefore be nothing but Dickensian penury in the threadbare offices of all public departments, I don't know that this necessarily holds up either.

For the record- I've never had a work-funded party (nor so much as a pint off them) in seven years. And I fully understand why any taxpayer (myself included) would consider that only right and proper. I just think that the same applies for any company- it's just not a valid use of the funds of any organisation imo.

BraziliaNZ

Deleted User wrote: »

I just think that the same applies for any company- it's just not a valid use of the funds of any organisation imo.

That's ridiculous, companies who are earning money will earn more if they keep their employees happy, i.e. treating them once in a while.

TwoShedsJackson

It's the €250 donated to the Church that's the worst of it.

MagicSean

awec wrote: »

No.

I am saying the public sector is different to the private sector. I am forced to fund it, so it should be as cheap as possible to run.

That means no public funded parties, free food, free drink or anything like that. Workers should be provided with a place to work and get a salary in return.

Cheap doesn't mean good.

BraziliaNZ

BraziliaNZ wrote: »

That's ridiculous, companies who are earning money will earn more if they keep their employees happy, i.e. treating them once in a while.

OK, I take the point as fair, if I may be allowed to amend the spirit of my statement to say something likeany organisation should not spend money without a clear benefit to achievement of the organisational goals (nebulous though the traceback may be from any given expenditure on 'goodwill' to 'increased output').

Dodge

BraziliaNZ wrote: »

That's ridiculous, companies who are earning money will earn more if they keep their employees happy, i.e. treating them once in a while.

If you believe that, wouldn't the same apply to production in the public sector. Happy workers = better workers?

Odysseus

awec wrote: »

I may, and I will warn them that working in the public sector will give you an outrageous level of job security with an inflated salary and in return you forego any chance of perks, free food, funded parties and any other interesting add-ons that occur in the private sector.

But why would you tell them that, it is not the case. Every job like like it or not will have some form of perk.

Remember, these are only your opinions, nobody get the right to say how their tax is spent.

I don't think I would ever take a management position here, however, if I did I would be fighting for my staff.

You view of how the service should be run is just that, your view.

Odysseus

TwoShedsJackson wrote: »

It's the €250 donated to the Church that's the worst of it.

Serious why?

Spindle

jmayo wrote: »

Ever notice how many sons and now even daughters of defense forces staff end up in the defense forces.
You also left out how much it also helps to be prominent in the GAA to join defense forces. :rolleyes:

And speaking of doctors, analysing certain specialist areas you will find lots of sons, daughters, neices, nephews are in the same area.
Likewise with legal profession in the private sector.

What is your point here, many sons/daughters go on to do what their parents work as, because they are pushed in that direction and influenced by them, it has always been that way. It has nothing to do with private/public sector

Your point about the GAA is valid but that is true for all jobs in Irish society, lots of private sector companies have strong GAA links but having said that their are a lot of GAA heads out there! The same can be said for rugby and soccer links. Being part of a large organization can always give you an edge, even if it is unfair.

jmayo wrote: »

What ?
Pushing paper to each other doesn't require a degree or a trade and there is a hell of a lot of basic admin staff in the public sector.

Who get paid the basic pay grade for low grade admin staff, look it up you might be surprised how low that is.

jmayo wrote: »

No they don't.
How many times do you need to be told they, for the most part, are only repaying someone elses taxes.
If I earn 50k and pay 20k tax.
That is tax from private enterprise I pay in the system.

Of course I understand that private sector profits and income is what makes the system tick, but just pointing out that lower paid in the public sector who in most cases are needed and work at their jobs are forced to pay higher taxes (pay-cuts) to keep over inflated salaries at the top. Of course there needs to be pay cuts but it needs to be more even.

Also without the public sector there would be no private sector, as nobody would bother building roads infrastructure in Ireland, unless there was a profit to be made from it. So you need a balance of both in the system to make it work.

Anyway this is dragging the thread off topic, so where can I get my free party laid on by the tax payer

therealgirl

BraziliaNZ wrote: »

I worked in the civil service for about 5 years in Dublin, never had anything paid for. Not even the milk in our canteens was paid for! My dad worked for Revenue for 40 years and their staff parties were never paid for either, unless the higher up people put out a spread or put some cash behind the bar.
Where I work now we get free food all day, free beer on fridays, they pay for my public transport, we have playstations and xboxes in the office, etc etc.
Sometimes I spend half the whole day reading boards and watching youtube, I certainly do less work than I did in Dublin, where we weren't even allowed internet access.

So the country is broke, but how do you actually think these staff should be treated? I wonder how much they'd need to take away from the public sector in order to make these bitter people happy.

*retirees*

therealgirl

BraziliaNZ wrote: »

I wish we could create a worker nation of robots.
I called Sky broadmand the other day and had to hold for 25 minutes, should they not have an Xmas party as there's too long a hold time?
Anyway I don't think we'll ever agree on this, happy xmas.

You are completely missing the point....must be all the beer & down time at work

therealgirl

Dodge wrote: »

Cocktails that the staff paid for. Is begrudging them a half day for an xmas party really going to hurt the country?

Seriously there are real problems in the public service but a half day for an xmas party is a good thing for staff morale.

...who do their jobs properly & work hard

It's a little facetious, but it's not a million miles off. Customers of Sky are the same level of stakeholder as taxpayers are to the public sector. The fairly obvious difference is that taxpayers do not have an option of taking their 'custom' elsewhere or of opting out of the transaction (short of moving country I suppose).

Other than that- it's reasonably similar. Yes, you pay taxes- congrats. So does everyone else. It no more gives you the right to make lazy assumptions, throw lazy insults or issue lazy dictats to the providers of the service you consume than it bestows any such right on any private sector consumer. We have roles and bosses who tell us what to do at work already, we don't get to (nor are we under any onus to) circumnavigate them at the behest of every taxpayer with an axe to grind.

therealgirl

MagicSean wrote: »

Cheap doesn't mean good.

Overpaid obviously isn't working for them either

Odysseus

Deleted User wrote: »

. Yes, you pay taxes- congrats. So does everyone else. It no more gives you the right to make lazy assumptions, throw lazy insults or issue lazy dictats to the providers of the service you consume than it bestows any such right on any private sector consumer. We have roles and bosses who tell us what to do at work already, we don't get to (nor are we under any onus to) circumnavigate them at the behest of every taxpayer with an axe to grind.

I wonder what you could call that? A inappropriate sense of entitlement maybe. Just because some claim they pay taxes, they now think they are managers

Boombastic

Odysseus wrote: »

I wonder what you could call that? A inappropriate sense of entitlement maybe. Just because some claim they pay taxes, they now think they are managers

Managing retired staff is it?

Icepick

Public Service is a self-serving organism so things like this are only natural.

MagicSean

therealgirl wrote: »

Overpaid obviously isn't working for them either

I've yet to see anyone show anything to indicate low level workers in the public sector are overpaid. If you can dig something up that be great.

Boombastic

MagicSean wrote: »

I've yet to see anyone show anything to indicate low level workers in the public sector are overpaid. If you can dig something up that be great.

It would be great an all if this thread was about low-level workers but it's not, it's about retired workers

Odysseus

Boombastic wrote: »

It would be great an all if this thread was about low-level workers but it's not, it's about retired workers

If that was the case we wouldn't be talking about increments etc as you don't get them when you retire. This is about having a pop at the public service any way people can think of.

MagicSean

Boombastic wrote: »

It would be great an all if this thread was about low-level workers but it's not, it's about retired workers

Yet you felt the need to bring up a Christmas party in Revenue.

therealgirl

Odysseus wrote: »

If that was the case we wouldn't be talking about increments etc as you don't get them when you retire. This is about having a pop at the public service any way people can think of.

Yeah it is...but for me, its about having a pop at the dopes at the top who thought it was ok to throw a soiree for retired folk of the public service...I'm not having a go at anyone but these idiots who make these decisions...and are allowed to make bigger stupid decisions that affect us all *simples*

Dodge

Is it just Welfare that this happens? Must be if its not being reported at other departments.

if its not standard, then its easily cut IMO