Public versus Private Sector (1 Viewer)

[ann post]

so are the phones on or not??

 

[Livewire]

yes and no - there is a tricky balance.

I'm sick of too many public services being contracted out to private sector companies (without more strict governance) - there needs to be a public model based on private systems (with transparency, creativity, innnovation, design thinking etc etc)

Have you heard of the company Serco?

Never heard of Serco.

I was thinking more of a system whereas we all had insurance provided to us by the government, regardless of prexsisting conditions, and all health care providers had to accept it. All healthcare providers would be private, but again be heavily regulated by a government agencty that is apt and can enforce it's rulings. Private health insurance providers would not be allowed or exsist. We'd all get world class health care... as it stands now we all get a shit service. Just ask all those ladies who died of cancer because the hospitals mixed up test results.

 

[broken arm]

Never heard of Serco.

I was thinking more of a system whereas we all had insurance provided to us by the government, regardless of prexsisting conditions, and all health care providers had to accept it. All healthcare providers would be private, but again be heavily regulated by a government agencty that is apt and can enforce it's rulings. Private health insurance providers would not be allowed or exsist. We'd all get world class health care... as it stands now we all get a shit service. Just ask all those ladies who died of cancer because the hospitals mixed up test results.

the biggest company you've never heard of...

ok this vid is from ABC but they operate in UK/Ireland

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[Livewire]

the biggest company you've never heard of...

ok this vid is from ABC but they operate in UK/Ireland

YouTube- The Biggest Company You've Never Heard Of

I'll check it out when I get home tonight. Have you seen "Food Inc."? Great film.

 

[pete]

A number of delegates outlined the effect on their wages of the recent cuts.

Mary Duffy from the Department of Education in Tullamore outlined how her house had been repossessed after her husband became unemployed. She is living on €451 a week in rented accommodation - though her son still thinks they are on holiday.

Lynsey Crowley from the Chief State Solicitors' Office said she had lost €28 a week and was now taking home €402 a week. She said that her landlord had agreed to reduce her rent by €21 euro a week if she agreed to clean the common areas. She now does so despite having spina bifida and scoliosis.

Conor McDonald from the Revenue Commissioners said he was earning €420 a week. He lives in a council house in north Dublin with one child. His self-employed girlfriend, who is pregnant, is now working a three-day week.

They are borrowing on credit cards to make ends meet. He had to produce his payslip to make people believe how little he was earning. He said that because of the promotion freeze, he had no prospect of improving his situation. He said that for him a luxury was having warm water.

Michelle Kavanagh of the Department of Justice said she had to take on a second job to make ends meet and pay for childcare and often works up to 70 hours a week.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0126/partnership.html

 

[niallmc]

http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0126/partnership.html

ah yes pete, but sure aren't they lucky to have a job!!
that line really infuriates me.....

 

[Jim Daniels]

Jesus! They're at it again on the Pat Kenny show! Noisy!

 

[broken arm]

the labour manifesto has put forward the idea of mergers between underperforming schools/police/hospitals with better performing ones and the ability of the public to get school management sacked etc.

"The days of take-it-or-leave-it public services are over. " - broon 2010

 

[pete]

the Attorney General's strong advice was that legislation to remove the pension would be unconstitutional, as it would be disproportionate discrimination against a particular class of persons.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0504/pension.html

Funny - I don't remember them saying that when the pension levy was introduced.

 

[ann post]

http://www.facebook.com/pages/JIM-M...S-GIVE-IT-UP-YOU-LEECH/117503451604318?ref=ts

this has more members then the fianna fail official. though technically mc daid has gone solo calling himself 'independent fianna fail'. besides the drink driving he's usually slicker then this though.

 

[Squiggle]

If you're going to take over a month to respond to letters you could at least get the fucking response right - Revenue Commissioners, I'm looking at you. "Dear Sir,"... Fuck right off and die.

Pissed off enough that they've been messing me around for nearly 3 months now, but to be addressed as "Sir" really takes the fucking cake.

 

[ann post]

are they based in donegal by any chance?? all our sentences begin. end and are punctuated by 'sir'.

 

[hugh]

If you're going to take over a month to respond to letters you could at least get the fucking response right - Revenue Commissioners, I'm looking at you. "Dear Sir,"... Fuck right off and die.

Pissed off enough that they've been messing me around for nearly 3 months now, but to be addressed as "Sir" really takes the fucking cake.

Bad communications is not the sole preserve of the public sector (though I have always found the revenue commissioners to be pretty ok). Ever tried dealing with the likes of Eircom?

 

[Squiggle]

Actually, I've had pretty good experiences with Eircom. And usually had with the Revenue Commissioners too. Work-to-rule and taking over a month to reply to letters is one thing. Sending incomplete replies (this latest letter from them was requesting something they HADN'T FUCKING ASKED ME FOR in the previous letter they sent me in relation to this case) that aren't even properly composed is pretty inexcusable.

I first wrote to them in January, got a reply in mid February, sent them what they were asking for straight away and waited until yesterday for them to send me a request for something else they haven't yet told me they need in a not-even-proofread letter. Can't wait to see what I get from them in another few months.

 

[hugh]

Actually, I've had pretty good experiences with Eircom.

Fair enough. I haven't. My point still stands though. No-one has a monopoly on incompetence. We can all relate negative experiences with the public sector - however if they are posted on a thread called "public vs private sector" then it kind of invites people to assume that you are holding this up as just one example of a general and widespread incompetence across the public sector. Hence my slightly testy reply ....

I do sympathise with your annoyance though. And it reminds me that they owe me some money .. must get onto that.

 

[Squiggle]

Well, as I've usually had good experiences with the Revenue Commissioners I'm putting my recent experience down to the current Public Sector malaise/go-slow/work-to-rule or whatever you want to call it.

But there should still be some kind of standards, it's like they just don't give any kind of a shit at the moment, which isn't exactly reassuring, considering what their responsibilities are.

 

[magicbastarder]

Fair enough. I haven't. My point still stands though. No-one has a monopoly on incompetence. We can all relate negative experiences with the public sector - however if they are posted on a thread called "public vs private sector" then it kind of invites people to assume that you are holding this up as just one example of a general and widespread incompetence across the public sector. Hence my slightly testy reply ....

and with eircom, a call to the public sector (i.e. comreg) is usually the way to get them to do what you want them to do.

 

[ann post]

Quote is from David Gibney, of Mandate trade union:

WARNING - We're going back to the future!

RTE contacted me on Friday to ask if Mandate could provide the Claire Byrne Show with workers from the private sector (retail or bar workers) who hadn't had a pay increase since the economic collapse.

I said, "That might be difficult because 90% of Mandate members had won at least one pay increase in recent years, with some winning three of them, or a total of 9% in three years.

I added, "In fact, 40,000 Mandate members had won approximately €41 million in pay increases in the last four years."

The researcher was a little shocked, naturally, because no media outlet bothered to cover those pay increases, but he continued:

"Well do you think there's any workers you could supply that haven't won a pay increase?"

I said, "I'll try", but I added, "unless you guys are planning on pitching private sector workers against public sector workers like you did in 2008-2010? Mandate will not be facilitating that sort of false debate."

Well the researcher fumbled and stuttered and couldn't find any words to respond with. The natural instinct would ordinarily be, "that's not the agenda at all. We just want to highlight the fact that some workers haven't had a pay increase and maybe everyone deserves one." But clearly they had already had a discussion among the production team and they are going to play that card tonight.

They did this in 2009 on the Frontline programme hosted by Pat Kenny and a decision was made that no trade union would supply that show with spokespersons.

Be under no illusion, they know what they're doing. The more we point fingers at each other saying, "I haven't had a pay increase, so they shouldn't either", the less likely it is that you can win one too. We need to stand behind each other instead.

I fully support public pay restoration but I believe it should start at the bottom. The workers who are on the lowest wages, like nurses and young teachers, should have their pay prioritised, instead of giving more than €5,400 to TD's and Principal Officers, and more to Ministers and the Taoiseach. Sure those guys benefitted the most from the cuts to the USC (€1,255) over the last two Budgets meaning they'll be better off to the tune of about €6,655 per year. That's obscene while 2,000 children remain homeless.

The narrative from the mainstream media and the so called experts has been that it was workers and their wage demands that crashed the economy. They'd have you believe it had nothing to do with the heaping of private banking debt onto the state's balance sheet and bailing out the insiders who occupy the corridors of Leinster House!

If you believe that Ireland's economy crashed because the wages of public sector workers were too high, you need to deconstruct your mind and look at the facts. Ireland has the second highest prevalence of low pay in the entire OECD. About 16% of those at work are already in poverty, and that includes public servants.

I may be wrong, but I reckon tonight's Claire Byrne Show will be the continuation of the national broadcasters campaign for wage restraint for ordinary workers, while one of their highest paid presenters won a 30% pay increase last year - that's an extra €100,000 on top of his €300,000 salary.

But hey, don't pay attention to that, look at the private sector worker over there who hasn't had a pay increase in six years. The cheek of you public sector workers looking to earn a decent living wage that keeps a roof above your head and food in your belly. Selfish b*****ds.

Don't fall for the false narrative. Educate yourself and support each other in seeking fair pay increases.

 

[egg_]

Just a little anecdote on private sector incompetence - a lad who sits near me in work use to work for a v large insurance firm as a Business Intelligence guy. In a single year he came up with 14 separate minor changes to the way things were done that he could demonstrate would save the company over a million euro each, and a grand total of none of them were implemented