Compulsory redundancy warning
Thursday 27th May 2010, 3:00PM BST.
Treasury Minister Philip Ozouf outside the States offices at Cyril Le Marquand House
STATES workers were warned today to brace themselves for the possibility of compulsory redundancies as part of the biggest public sector cutbacks for generations.
Treasury Minister Philip Ozouf last week revealed plans to axe up to 60 posts in the first round of a voluntary redundancy scheme to be rolled out next year.
It is likely that further voluntary job losses will be required during the next three years. But the minister has today confirmed for the first time that compulsory redundancies could be considered if too few States workers take up the voluntary offer.
The voluntary scheme is being launched as part of the comprehensive spending review, which will slash spending in each States department by ten per cent over the next three years.
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Lets start with the polititions first please./
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why dont we stop giving all the lazy people benefits ,we could save millions !!
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Efficiency measures in the States?! Somebody pinch (nay) slap me, I must be dreaming.
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Can the public have a referendum on who to sack?
Sorry, I forget our dear CM Mr Le Sueur does not believe in referendums (his words not mine!)
So as with all these things the hard working or lowly will get made redundant while the middle/senior management who contribute zilch and @rse kiss will continue on the gravy train as “too expensive” to get rid of.
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stop giving yourselves 1000 pound wage risers stop giving hand outs to the drunks in the parade stop making mistakes with the euro exchange stop suspending people on full pay just stop wasting all our money start there first
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The same whose famous words were.
“There will be no recession in Jersey,We are in a strong position to weather the storm”
So mr.le Sueur are you going to eat your Words?
Better still start at the top.
Why don,t you ask the highest earners to take voluntary or compulsory redundancy.
Only fair way to do things as their wage must be way above states workers so why pick on the underdog.
Even better why not start on the counsil of minister and over-paid civel servants?
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Can we start with striking teachers who obviously don’t want to work.
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So where does this (and the news from the Post Office) sit with the story earlier in the week about the economy improving because the jobless total is falling?
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To much to hope that it will be chiefs and not just indians this time round. Normally they get rid of the people who actually do the work and employ another chief at a slight saving over all. Efficiency savings, restructuring savings – my eye! It has always been possible to make cuts in states spending with a corresponding cut in service provision. The worry is that nowadays a cut of say 10percent may mean a 20percent cut in service provision as it is likely to be the workers who go. And is anyone going to be surprised if the high earners dont volunteer for redundancy – why would they?
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Your having a laugh Mr O if you promised 60 manual workers a £100.000 voluntary redundancy payment the queue would stretch from cyril le marquand house to the states chamber with volunteer’s, but no you wont do that will you, instead you will pay off 20 highly paid civil servants instead with a £300,000 golden handshake
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Peter Pot – yu hit the nail bang on the head ! Too many people on benefits, too many girls with babies, I am tired of ‘sponsering’ them all…
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Redundancies are very expensive.
Why not start by freezing recruitment, apart from replacing essential specialist staff, and redeploying existing staff as others leave or retire.
Salaries should also be frozen, and the pension scheme closed to all new employees.
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I wonder if I would be being totally naieve in hoping that Philip would seize the opportunity to claw back some credibility from us the voting public by actually Not letting the axe fall on the workers and instead thin out the management structures…ie: we have more admin staff than patients at the hospital… think about that for a sec…still the waiting lists keep on extending.the evil pyramid that is the civil service keeps on tucking more staff in under each layer.thus pushing up the wages of those higher up the food chain..whe need to do less and less as they earn more and more whilst abdicating nicely any responsibility which has been ably demonstrated lately,so up and up goes the pyramid ever higher,final salary pensions,sick pay holidays etc.the nurses and clinical staff meanwhile are run ragged..and it’s like that in most depts,,,street/beach cleaners about 9 guys and almost as many admin people …the scalpel needs to be wielded at managerial level…but will he do it?…watch this space.
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Dave @12
Spot on, just as well you joined!!
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Dave 12 – Why not start by freezing recruitment, apart from replacing essential specialist staff, and redeploying existing staff as others leave or retire.
Salaries should also be frozen, and the pension scheme closed to all new employees.
The problem with your proposal is that it would work, Baggins only implements policies that don’t work and ideally cost a packet.
I’d jump at a redundancy payout, our lot are hoping to make it so difficult you’ll leave. Mind you I’m in the private sector – another planet.
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Did anyone notice that the same day this was announced, the States were advertising a recruitment position for “Refreshment Assistant”, whose responsibility will be (and I quote) “providing refreshments for States members on States days.” In other words, 60 jobs to go in the public sector, but the States members need a new member of staff because they are too lazy to get their own coffee!!!
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That will put the cat amongst the pigeons!
Job for life – I don’t think so States employees, time to start working for a living!
Rose
x
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No 2 – Peter Pot – I totally agree with you, there are far too many people in this Island on benefits that us the tax payers are paying for, children with babies (i say children as there are a lot under the age of 18) and those who have never worked a day in their life because they are better off on benefits – as quoted in the national newspapers yesterday “people who work are morons as they are better off on benefits”. For us working mothers who have mortgages and bills to pay we have to work to put a roof over our childrens heads and food on the table, we cant rely on help from the States as we are not obliged to.
And before anyone starts on the you shouldnt have children if you cant afford them, how about all these people who have children and claim more benefits and dont work!!
Surely Jersey should be looking towards to new coalition in the UK and stancing enough is enough with benefit claimers and using the money for better purposes and needs. We need better politicians who listen to the people’s needs, we need someone who can actually be heard in the States rather than the ring fencers there are at the moment who seem very happy with their lovely salaries whilst making people redundant.
JERSEY – TIME TO WAKE UP and realise for years we have been paying for people to have more children, who dont want to work as they are better off sitting on their backsides and we pay for immigrants to live in the island and we pay for non-Jersey people to live in La Moye. Savings per year? MILLIONS
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Mr Sensible #10
What’s the difference if the savings are the same?
Dave #12
If you close the pension scheme to all new employees who is going to pay for those currently receiving pension or those currently on the scheme who will retire in years to come? Think about it.
AG #16
How do you know this advert wasn’t to replace someone who has left? Are you sure it’s just to feed the Ministers?
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Where did I say this was just for Ministers? I think you’ll find I was quoting the ad itself.
And if it was to replace someone else – is this a vital position to the running of the States when there will be compulsory redundancies.
I could understand if it was a private concession which catered to States members – but if that is the case, then why are the States advertising it as a States job?
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#1 Jersey girl…Lets start with the polititions first please.
Totally agree.. political reform is necessary. We could halve the number of states members and not notice.
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I feel sorry for those losing their jobs. Not just for that fact alone – but when they finally get jobs in the private sector they are going to wonder what hit them – 0% pay rises, performance management, ever increasing targets, long hours etc etc…
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Leonr2z – The reason the jobless total is falling is that people ARE getting on the boat in the morning.
I know of 4 people (their families – 18 people in total) who are leaving.. and they are not even unemployed, leaving perfectly good jobs because they can see the writing on the wall.. Oh and that is 4 people from ONE department of 40 in ONE organisation.
Once again the good people are going while the ‘rough and ready’ will be employed, I’ve said it before on here – Jersey will be the next Brighton.
We are losing the wrong people and keeping the wrong people.
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No 18 – Sarah.
I am an immigrant- no one pays for me to live here. Please explain ! I think yu have it all wrong. It is us as immigrants who are paying towards locals to have the ‘benefits’ they all enjoy. Immigrants are hard workers unlike some locals I have seen here.
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18 Sarah – “we pay for immigrants to live in the island”
Actually, the truth is the opposite. Without the labour of immigrants, most of the social and other services that ‘locals’ take for granted would not exist in anything like their present form (from health and education all the way through to the corner shop); and without the Social Security contributions of immigrants (largely young and economically active), the pension and benefits funding for ‘locals’ would cease to be viable.
Immigrants, by and large, only arrive because there is a demand for their labour – a demand which the ‘local’ population – for whatever reason – fails to meet.
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I think the amount we pay out in benefits is absurd, so how about say 2 months on benefits whilst you look for a job then you turn up at a farm or wherever labour is required and get made to work for your hand out, if you don’t turn up you don’t get paid!
I am sure the states workers would like help cleaning the streets of st helier after the late nights out, there must be a whole host of other labour jobs that the states could get them to do!
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Lets start by blocking the Airports and Ports, We don’t need more foreign mouths to feed/take our Jobs, or husbands (To get preggies to get qualies, Welfare and get in their overseas families !!!)OOPS! forgot we don’t care who we let in !!! Start deportation of any offenders on work Visa’s OOOOPs! forgot we don’t want these, Human Rights and All! Crack down on Illegals working for cheap Labour ! OOOPs ! forgot includes some in Cleaning Jobs at States !
So Just ignore my letter, I have to re-thinkth I Think !
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Dave at 12……spot-on posting, totally agree. I would also make the public sector work to the same retirement age as everyone else. Notice that no one is keen to put a figure on the annual cost of early retirement in the public sector.Then there is the yearly stampede to spend what’s left in a department’s budget or they lose this cash. We were promised that this practice would stop, but it has not.Worst of all is the level of absenteeism. No record was kept at all until about 2003 and the latest figures I have seen show the prison to top the list with 27 sick days per year on average.Enormous savings could be made without dishing out further millions of our money.And I’m not talking about the staff at the “coal face”, the real service providers who carry the load and go home exhausted. Spend more here….back to basics.
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13,
Truthseeker,
Observing comments made on most serious issues over a long period of time, and considering a few of my own which I must admitt have been biased from time to time, I must confess that your own are the most balanced, fair minded,and considered opinions anyone could read on a “blog”, and if you ever toy with the idea of entering politics, I suspect that you would have a large following.
Think about it!
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O.k so, the treasury minister makes the statement about the possible redundancies, then they advertise for a tea lady! come on now ca they not make their own tea and coffees?
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whom does Phillis thinks going to pay for all this
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No 19.
Pensions are paid out of the relevent pension fund. -I believe there is more than one fund and different employees are in different funds/schemes. If there is a projected deficit between future pension committments and projected assets in the fund (which I believe is the case in all Jersey public employee funds), then either contributions would have to be increased by the current employees and employers, or the final pensions would have to be reduced.
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After reading all the comments about the states to blame for over hiring and failing to get rid of all the dead wood,the truth is, blame the unions,if the states tried to clean house the whole place would come to a stand still,and blood would run in the streets. Unions run governments big or small the world over,politicans are a bunch of cowards only interested in covering their backsides
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#33, ‘Unions run governments big or small the world over’
Substitute the words “Big business” for “Unions”, ebenezer, and you might get nearer the truth. Probably also the culprits for shafting the UK Labour government and the economy recently.
What’s more, they are still enjoying the high life and bonuses whilst continuing to demonise unions. The anti union message is helped along by the ebenezers of this world many of whom are suffering a decline in their standard of living, courtesy of their heros.
Dave,33. Public sector pensions don’t reduce if the fund decreases. Contributions, the rates and taxes have to increase to make up the shortfall. Just like how the private sector whop up their prices in order to maintain their own standard of living!
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This is just a way to bully people into accepting unacceptable States Policy.
Expect to see some things we would never agree to otherwise being put forward as an alternative.
Some people will see this financial crisis as an opportunity to get otherwise impossible decisions passed through the States.
Do not fall for it..
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Dave #32
Final pensions cannot be reduced for those retired or those currently paying into a pension scheme otherwise the States would be breaking the contract entered into by both parties and no doubt would be heavily sued so it is not an option. Your option to prevent new employees entering the scheme and instead increase current contributions would not work because States pensions are indexed linked and the contribution increase would be huge and would get larger as contributors retired i.e. leaving less to pay for those retired. Seeing as the States also contribute this would cost the tax payer dearly. As you said the fund is already in deficit. The fund owes those who have contributed whether in employment or retired so if it crystallised today it would not have enough to cover all its debts.
The only realistic way of paying for the States pension scheme is for them to make it compulsory for all new employees to join the scheme and to raise their contributions and do away with the final salary agreement. Assuming of course the unions let them.
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No 36.
That all depends on the contract of employment and the terms of the pension schemes (which I do not know). For private sector final salary schemes, there is not always an cast-iron obligation for the employer to make up the deficits on the scheme, or make up shortfalls in pensions.
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We will the public get to know of all the details… I have been told that the redundancies will go ahead and then the company (States Dept when it chooses) will re-hire some of the workers on a possible part time basis for a lesser rate…
So much for no recession hey Terry… You should resign. He doesnt listen and is unbelievably arrogant… Mind you Philip Ozouf isnt much better!
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Final salary schemes in the private sector are long gone. I was working for one bank and it wanted to shift everyone to defined contributions, the woman next to me who was an assistant manager was offered £10,000 transfer value for 15 years work. Another bank only offers 7% of your wages as a pension contribution, not that great. With annunity rates as low as they are quite a large number of people won’t have a comfortable retirement.
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