Definitely agree with you about wasteful leaflets and magazines. Before I was in the public sector I worked for Bradford and Bingley, both before and after it became a building society. While upper management was busy mis-managing the company into the ground all manner of pointless internal magazines did the rounds on very expensive thick, gossy paper stock. It's not much different working for the council, though they are going more the pdf route now.

The council I work for went Labour in the local elections, which might mean an especially spiteful round of cuts imposed by the Tories in Westminster.

_________________
"To the living we owe respect, but to the dead we owe only the truth."
Voltaire

We always used to reckon that 3 of us could run the place in our lunchtime and still have time for a sandwich...

We were being tossers, of course.

So there you have it. According to the shite that also goes by the name Daily Mail there are millions of public sector workers who have "gold-plated pensions". The ones at the very very top of the ladder, an absolute minority, might have pensions that might be described as such but the normal workers who run the show certainly don't. Just fuck off Mail.

I certainly don't.

I used to be a temp so I didn't even have the gold plated sick leave.

I wish I had a goldplated pension - but if I stay at my current salary my pension is hardly worth the administrative costs

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1289702/Public-sector-inertia-council-office-employees-month-sickies.html

This is very reminiscent of the early 80s when Mrs T's government were so keen to tell us how all those heavy industrial factories were unnecessary and their jobs worthless.

To be fair...

Yes, there are some people who play the system for all it's worth. I'm dealing with one right now.

In March, he applied for a month's special leave to go on holiday. This was turned downm but he went anyway - although not before twisting (twisting, not breaking or spraining) his ankle playing football and taking 2 weeks off work sick. The sickness leading neatly up to his requested (and denied) holiday period. Then he went off, and called at the beginning of May asking if he could extend his leave to 6 months. When told this was not possible, and that as he had taken more than 9 days off sick in a rolling year, he had to go to Occupational Health.

They diagnosed him with depression, and anxiety about returning to work. They recommended that he return to the same site (best for him, no disruption), but was kept away from his immediate superiors, who it was claimed were 'nagging' him to do things. No I know the people in question, and the only time they 'nag' is when the fucking job isn't being done properly or at all. Nothing he was asked to do was outside the remit of his job description (library assistant). Still, he was told that we would accommodate all his requests as we didn't want to lose an employee (mainly because there's a recruitment freeze, and if we were to recruit, the process costs approx. £2,500 a time. He was told to call in by 10.00 on any day he could not get to work, and to produce a doctor's note if off work for more than 7 days at a stretch. That was the beginning of June.

Since then he has worked one morning, and his colleagues and site manager, and group manager (me) and our heads of department and directorate are heartily sick of him. Even his doctor can find nothing wrong with him. He even says that he just needs to 'pull himself together' and hates being such a slacker. Of course, he knows that if he does start turning up to work regularly or semi-regularly, he's up for disciplinary on 3 grounds (absenteeism, performance, failure to follow staff rules) and may well be instantly dismissed. But if he remains on the sick, he's on full pay for 6 months.

While the examples in the article sound somewhat extreme, there are people in the public sector who are frankly taking the piss. Of course though, the purpose of the article is to demonise us all (including contractors like myself, who either work or don't get paid), making the cuts easier for the mob to live with. Thankfully, comments seem to be a mixed bag.

_________________
Ten seconds... the pain begins.

Fifteen seconds... you can't breathe.

Twenty seconds... you give up and turn off the Jeremy Vine show.

That sounds quite similar to some things that happen where I work. Regretably, much of it is supported by the Union.

I've seen similar, and yes, it is taking the piss. But I've also seen people who were genuinely depressed (and teaching is a tough job if you are) and not coping, and needed to be treated properly, after all an employer does have that 'duty of care'. I suspect that often the people involved don't have the sort of information (or expertise) that allows them to be categorical, and it could go pear-shaped in an industrial tribunal, so they play safe.

the same applies for all the 'depressed' people on benefits, in my opinon.

I agree.
I once saw a young bloke (Business Studies teacher) treated very badly because his depression - he just couldn't cope, shouldn't have been in the job - was affecting kids and his colleagues who had to pick up for him. Instead of sympathy, help and a fast track to something suitable he ended up being abused, ignored and effectively fired.
There's always an element of 'there but for fate' about these cases.

When I asked for early retirement on the grounds of poor health I was told that I didn't qualify as I was still breathing. Seriously - that's how sympathetic Occupational Health can be!

Malcolm,

We have in this case tried to be as supportive as possible - making sure duties assigned are all agreed with him, hours worked are to his liking, any and all meetings are attended by union rep and/or supporting person (and he has 48 hours to prepare). All we have asked him to do is 2 simple things:

1. on any day unable to come to work, contact ANY library (or the council switchboard and leave a message) by 10.00 am that day. Message can be left on switchboard in case he doesn't want to speak to his line manager for example.

2. Provide certification from his GP or other qualified person every 7th day off work.

And that is all we have asked of him. He has failed to do either. Yet while off sick, he is untouchable, and he knows it. Mainly because, as Moonshien said happen, his union rep positively encourages him.

And the rep's a cocking slacker too.

_________________
Ten seconds... the pain begins.

Fifteen seconds... you can't breathe.

Twenty seconds... you give up and turn off the Jeremy Vine show.

Yep. I've met that sort too - industrial 'injuries', strange intermittent illnesses, odd relapses on days they were meant to see Occupational Health. But some cases are genuine, and until proved otherwise you have to give them the benefit of the doubt.

2 is notquite as easy as it sounds, gp's can be quite hit and miss with regards to mental health (i rarely see my actual gp for this reason). not to mention that navigating all the need to do's during a depressive downturn is far from simple. i've been lucky with a lot of my stuff, both by having supportive parents who can help me sort a lot of that stuff out, and the age that i went into the system meaning that i've also had a social worker (or similar) for most of the time.
i'm with mally's benefit of the doubt on this. pain in the bum does not a false claiment make.

_________________
i have an art blog: http://procrastinationathon.blogspot.com/
and a review blog: http://blindwithwoodenhands.blogspot.com/
double blog! what does it mean?