Examples of waste in public sector?

[Hammy02]

I started a 3 month temp contract and they put me on a 2 day induction course. I didn't need to know the minutae of the organisation for a 3 month contract.
Had to fill out a form to get a book of stamps.
Had to fill out a form to get space in Outlook increased. No-one was EVER turned down for this so what was the point in the form?!

"Sure Xenia - in the NHS if you are long term sick it's six months full pay and six months half pay. "
That's certainly more than most private sector workers get when I think you aren't paid at all for the first 3 days and then you get SSP at statutory rates (not your real pay)

Than Xenia we should pull everyones terms and conditions down to the lowest common denominator - clearly.

Let's remove sick pay and maternity pay and get some workhouses set up - outsourced of course - then when someone gets cancer or similar we can just cart them off to the workhouse with their family - kids to a different one I think and we can get them cleaning the streets and parks by the age of 6. All sorted, no more lazy smelly poor or sick people around, no employer responsiblity or state responsiblity, no sense of society.

What do you public sector bashers want? do you want it all outsourced? Fancy having your tax collected by an outsource company? Want to present your health insurance in hospital before they treat you?

What do you really think is an acceptable sick pay policy? Not what do you get compared to others, but what in an ideal world do you think is fair, caring and acceptable?

When answering imagine a day where you or your partner is terminally ill or your child requires round the clock care and think how this would impact your life and think about how you want to be judged and cared for.

All this 'I don't get it so why should you' sickens me. We should all be working towards getting decent pay, terms and conditions for all. Not trying to beat down the public sector which is often the bench mark.

All this 'I don't get it so why should you' sickens me. We should all be working towards getting decent pay, terms and conditions for all. Not trying to beat down the public sector which is often the bench mark.

Oh Amen to that.

If the nation is bankrupt we have no choices. If most private sectors workers aren't paid for the first 3 days off sick and then at SSP rates (this is the legal minimum for employees by the way but those in cloud cuckoo land feather bedded public sector aren't aware of it) they tend to come in to work rather than skive off knowing they will be paid.

I'm certainly not anti-NHS but we have over the last 10 years moved to a situation where public sector workers have a much better deal.

Not sure what happens in other Gov Depts but I have worked 18 years in central Government - including the Home Office, Ministry of Justice and the various incarnations of Communities and Local Government/Office of the Deputy Prime Minister/Department of Environment and Transport and I have never encountered the sick leave practices described here. I also have good friends in Eduction and Trade and they've never heard of it either. I have anecdotes of poor procurement and pointless teams but nada about sick leave allowances.

Xenia ours is 4 days unpaid and then SSP 4 months full time , 4 half after that

and no carers leave

Yes Xenia - as I said - it's generous.

Anything else you'd like to beat NHS workers about while you're at it>

... hope you didn't miss the amount of unpaid work I have put in over the years delivering babies, caring for cardiac patients and helping those in dreadful situations at home. Is it okay if I don't get paid for those hours? Or does the very generous sick leave (which btw I am MORE than aware is not available in the private sector) meant to go someway towards recognising the shit conditions we sometimes work in?

I don't know the answer to that by the way - just saying that if the perks seem so good then get yourself over here (God knows we need the staff) and take the shit with the "perks" like the oh so cushy sick leave. Hopefully you won't need it - I never have so it's a moot point to me whether it exists or not.

If the physical assault I endured 10 years ago as a midwife had led to a longish term off sick it's great to know I could have paid the mortgage if needed rather than endure an assault and faced evicition.

Do YOU face physical violence in YOUR job Xenia - or is that a stupid question?

We are "expected" to work all hours. I work more unpaid hours than I do paid some weeks.

Small note Xenia - I earn approx 1/3 of what I earnt in the investment banking sector 20 years ago and work as hard if not harder in the public sector. The reduced earnings is made up for by better sick pay, more flexible working and under threat "a much better pension scheme".

Notwithstanding the fact that I work a 10 minute walk from our home and can be with the dc, in the vent of an emergency within 15 minutes, either way.

'Just call me Dave' must be laughing his socks off - the propaganda has worked all these people taking his lies as truth and turning against anybody who has different circumstances than them. The well paid against the low paid, the working against the non working, the private against the public sector - because everyone 'believes' in the cuts and job losses but they believe in it more when it's happening to somebody else. Particularly if you can blame that person for their own situation. All those people faking brain tumours and cancer so they don't have to work and can instead live on the poverty line on sickness benefit. All those lazy and stupid public sector workers, sitting there in 'non jobs' drinking tea, making sure they take their full quota of sick days every year.

Oh I'm ROFL - bring Maggie back.

The cuts though belong as much to the left as the right (more so as the left arguably caused them). Labour proposed 20% cuts and coaltion 25%. Nothing much to choose between them.

As I said much higher up we need to find where the worst waste is and where cuts are effective and not go in for token cuts which don't save much money. Only the big stuff is worth bothering about.

Tazmosis - would you care to deliver the other side of the argument about the leader who led this country illegally to war and then bliared about it.

And that has what to do with the public sector in the context of this thread?

Exactly the same as you posted Tazmosis. If you can't take it don't give it.

Xenia what we need to do is make cuts but still protect the poorest and most vulnerable. We need to have honest conversations about how to deal with the deficit - not just the Tory party using a big flashing 'Austerity' sign to make ideological cuts all over the place - laying waste to millions of peoples livelihoods and futures.

Onceamai - are you getting your threads confused dear?

This is a(nother) public sector bashing thread. My posts have been in response to that.

Struggling to understand where Tony Blair and the war in Iraq fits though.

Then you should have stuck to the public sector thread then (and it work in it) rather than derailing it to politics - and if you must be patronising - the same applies to you duckie.

So you think this can be separated from politics?

The problem seems to be that if you just cut the wages of the cabinet etc you make no impact (except it looks good) and the public finances are so bad that we can't tinker at the edges and have to make cuts the bite. There is very little to choose between the main parties and non is proposing radical cuts or changes which is a pity.

You brought politics into it love - not me. Don't do it if you don't want to be disagreed with.

Cuts ARE happening Xenia - well certainly in the NHS they are. The admin support staff have been slashed which seems reassuring to the public who have no idea just how much some of these people do to keep front line services running smoothly. An example - our local social communication clinic which deals with autism and Aspergers support and assessment have had a very good admin worker for the past 10 years who basically sorted out appointments and kept everything running smoothly. In Feb she was made redundant and her work swollowed up by other staff. Cue frantic phone call from a Mum who has huge worries about her child and who had phoned the number to be told "your child is not on the system" (ie no referral received). Now as I had referred this child along with another child I wondered if BOTH referrals had gone astray. It took 40 mins of phone calls to discover all the referrals had been passed to another clinic for processing and another 15 mins of calls to discover that both referrals HAD been received and appointments were being organised.

Not sure what the admin woman earned an hour but it's less than me! Sometimes these cuts are not the great money saving venture they appear to be.