Dumb ideas for cutting the deficit in government
I was watching http://www.rte.ie/player/#v=1059155 have a look at it first.
So my opinion is that we could
A. Cut jobs in the public sector
B. Cut wages
C. Do nothing
Cutting jobs is the bad solution, no one should lose their job. Cutting wages means that we can let people keep their jobs the only problem is the unions dont like that. Doing nothing is the single dumbest plan. The government cant afford the amount of people they are supporting.
We need to make tough choices to get though this recession. The unions are there to represent workers and I presume that all workers want first and foremost to keep their jobs so the views of ICTU President, Jack O’Connor are warped and wrong. He should really step down.
Hello all, I’m a new member so my first post so should really be on a controversial subject!! I’m a public sector worker and I know of some people where I work that were left go because they had no work to do – but at least they were on contract like most recent employees. I also know of others in a different sector whose work is gone but they still turn up at 9am and leave at 5pm so that they don’t give their employers an excuse to fire them (which must be fairly soul-destroying in itself).
Neither of these areas are in the HSE where the number of backroom staff nearly equals the number of front-line staff.
No one wants to call for people to lose their jobs but if you take over 1 billion euro off the public wage bill then you take a hell of a whack of disposable income out of the economy – the ESRI has acknowledged that cutting public sector pay will lead to job losses in the private sector. We really are in this together y’all.
Now I’m an evil public servant, 10 years into my public career in IT with a (relevant) masters degree and what’s worse I’m married to an evil artist who avails of the artist’s exemption – yet we come nowhere close to earning 75k a year mentioned on that show, so I’d have no problem calling for those on that amount to pay higher taxes – if I was caught up in this public vs private, anybody-but-me hate-in. I’m already suffering from the bailout of the private sector banks, the recklessness of private sector developers and real-estate agents and the greed of private sector retailers who fleece me because I’m not a subject of HRH. Not to mention the many, many private sector workers who voted for short-sighted corruption election after election. But I’m clever enough to recognise that what we face is not a private v. public problem
I’ll grudgingly take a paycut for the good of the country but I know that it will be barely thought-out and will favour the greedy feckers most culpable for allowing us to get into this mess. And to be honest I become more grudging the more I hear my private sector (and no doubt FF/PD voting) comrades bleat about how much I over-earn. Ten years employed and I’m still over 200 yoyos UNDER the average public sector wage. And new entrants to my job will start on a lower pay point than I did. Believe me there is some amount of wastage out there and it increases the higher up you go. But there are also a hell of a lot of workers who work hard for what they get, and are not necessarily guards, nurses etc. T’ain’t black and white.
So to sum up I think the only creditable option is a combo of A+B. Like you said, the government can’t afford the amount of people it’s supporting. Cut or re-distribute the non-performing employees first and then make up the rest of the savings by imposing a sliding-scale pay cut favouring those with the crap poorly paid jobs and rising percentage-wise the higher up you go (in essence just reverse the pension levy scale). But we should all be aware – this is the single-worst thing the government can do, depressing the economy at a time when it needs a stimulus package instead but unfortunately all that money’s been swallowed up by the bank bailouts. It is no reason for rejoicing.
Peace, love and Ubuntu comrades …