Recession: States jobs could go

[the 13th parish]

http://www.thisisjersey.com/2009/02/10/recession-states-jobs-could-go-in-policy-shift/

is there no good news today

[Fritz]

So the, "Whats yellow and sleeps four?" joke may have to be up-dated to, "Whats yellow and sleeps three(two?)".

LOL.

[rogueelement]

Don,t hold your breath, we have heard it all before many times over.
A tough stance means thst civil servants may have to accept only a 50% cost of living increase as opposed to the real world having salaries frozen, cut, job sharing,being made redundant. The States do not reduce jobs, they merely palm them off to outside contractors at a greater cost to massage the figures.Sorry, I,m sitting here shakeing my head in disbelief at how strange this world is becoming, we no longer employ 6,000 people! only 5000 with 1500 external contracts! whoooopeeefreakindooo.!

[boatyboy]

So Phillip Ozouf and Terry CM must be very worried to actually admit (all be it gently) a few home truths. The fact that even Edd Balls, economic wizz kid advisor to Gordon Brown for ten years, stated publicly and actually very openly, that Englands economy is in for a very rough ride.

Jersey has an economics department, a statistics dept. a new strat. panel,  Jersey Finance plus the treasury it goes on and on, the list of information gatherers.

So like the rest of Europe, Jersey is in for a beating.

It will fall to the Ministers to show backbone and courage. Will CM Le Suer go down in history as being Jerseys Churchill, will Treasury Minister Phillip Ozouf also be remembered as the man who saved Jersey economy in the most trying of times, are they going to be proactive ( try and head off disaster ) or reactive ( try to repair the damage once the economic storm has passed). 

Behind the soft tones of, statements like we may have to cut back on public sector staff, we may have to borrow £14 million to build a car park we must look at our options ? The Ministry of secrets know exactly where Jersey's economy is heading, they are fully armed with the facts. It falls to the Ministers to show backbone and courage. The basic truth is, action has always spoken louder than words.

First job sadly, ( its no joy, dismissing staff) make redundant the spin doctors, dispand the expensive quango's, bring in ( outside) time and motion experts to cut the wage bill by a minimum of 38% = £110
million. Moth ball all non essential states expenditure, knocking down minden place car park to turn it into a historic cattle market, comes to mind. Take advantage of the the expensive euro and dollar by encouraging the professional ( sorry not States Jersey tourism  office) private operators to bring in people for short breaks and meetings,to spend loads of money here.


Boatyboy
 

[White Knight]

I will agree as i have stated elsewhere that the civil servants should be cut down The numbers are only big because the senior management cannot do the job, so thy need under managers to see that every part of what they are supposed  know is working ok. There again some of these under managers do not know yhe job becuse they were employed by the senior manager who does not how much the people he employ's know about the job. Circles come to mind. The people who know how to do the jobs are kept down on the workshop floor, otherwise in most cases it would all fall down.

[Calimachon]

Safe to say then that it is far better to have a job in the Ministry of Secrets, more liklihood you will keep it. 

It is alleged there were yellow highlighters crossing out job after job on long lengths of computer paper at the ministry, quite a few years ago now, with a view to not re-employing within any contentious jobs.  No doubt the departments about to lose these positions became so concerned the authorities failed to follow through. Look at how much has been wasted!  Time and money.

[boatyboy]

Plans to shore up Jersey’s economy during the recession with forty four million pounds of Government cash have been ridiculed by an island politician.

Deputy Geoff Southern claims Treasury Minister Senator Phillip Ozouf is out of step with what his counterpart in Economic Development is saying.

Deputy Southern says the fiscal stimulus package has no money allocated for the public sector at a time when Senator Alan McClean is warning of redundancies for States workers.

http://www.jerseyinsight.com/news_1.aspx?id=0:11710&news=2:2358

So lets have a closer look Geoff, everyone  yep everyone in the private sector  who pays the wages of your public sector  could loose their jobs and suffer more stealth taxes ( JEC, telephone, Jersey own user pays special tax, GST ) and you are moaning because your little spoilt group has not got EXTRA money allocated while the very expensive public sector manual workers ( 1,500 ) just got a backdated 3.2% wage increase............................ Do you play tennis Mr Southern ?

" You cannot be serious ".

BB

[rogueelement]

Good point well made BB.
I had noticed that Geoff does indeed wear very big glasses , no doubt on account of his  myopia.

 

[rogueelement]

I have stated many times on here , that budgeting for a year for any states dept , should commence on a zero plus basis =
You start at nothing then make requests for the following year made on a prudent budgeting base. The current system requires whatever  the dept . had last year plus what they anticipate for inflation and or additional services.This has been unworkable for a number years and needs to be critically examined.  Nobody wishes to have a budget reduction , it is not in the nature of an empire building civil service to effect ANY reductions. reductions can only be enforced by a reward based culture, i.e. bonuses for savings , zero bonus for no savings, and salary reductions or sackings for increased expenditure.
The current round of pay negotiations in the public sector will be problematic.Someone needs to be very strong and clear with the civil service and advise that no increases is not just a possibility it is a fact.The Private sector is not paying increases and if any of the civil service believe they can get a better deal in the real world, well then let them try. I doubt anyone will be crushed in that particular stampede.
The unions in Jersey have had a pretty easy time of it in the past 30 years and unlike their cousins in the UK have not been broken over the wheel of economic collapse. Right now, this minute may well be the time to take them to task. Lightening strikes as we have seen at the bus station need to be addressed , companies must be released from the shackles of an industrial dinosaur and be allowed to provide services without having to take into consideration the opinion of the latest "Arthur Scargill" lightweight.
Let us hope that our politicians are up to snuff.

[White Knight]

So spartacus you want all the workers to be slaves, to be ordered around anyway that management wish. There are no bonus payments in the States. I have stated before that the working conditions that you enjoy came from unions fighting for the workers to have good pay and conditions. You should join a union for bankers etc or if your are filling shelves go to the T&G in New Street. The JDA is fighting for the ordinary man and woman in the street so they can have a reasonable living and life.

[rogueelement]

Whatever! God you really are stuck in some sort of time warp! Slaves!! workers today have more rights than bosses!
Let me ask you WKer how many days did you take off through illness per year,,, let me guess , not a lot ,, find out from the States stats illness days for 2008 , you will be amazed how unhealthy people have become.
I must admit, I stopped being ill the minute I ran my own business.I could not afford it.

[Calimachon]

This is where you can email to get the information you want on any statistics!

http://www.gov.je/ChiefMinister/Statistics/

I searched for statistics on Manual Workers sick leave but could not find any on the site so I guess an email would be necessary to ask them.

[White Knight]

Oh, are you saying that when someone employed you that you took days off on a sickie. Does not sound like a good employee to me, did you go ino business because no one would employ you? I have had approx. 2.5 weeks of sick with doctor's note in 28 years. Now take your time and read what i said before, it does not mean the way that you have taken it. Calm down and think before engaging your fingers on the key board. Now what kind of day have you had today? Mine has been pretty good on the whole. Just got back from town shopping with grandchildren. Such a lovely evening going to have tea in garden.

[rogueelement]

WK er I have had zero days sickness in the past 30 years , Guess I am just lucky.

[Dylan]

Or dead!