So in private sector if the average wage is $60,000 those kitchen porters etc referred to are earning Less than $60,000 whereas according to the statement above the average salary in the Public Service is actually $78,000.00. That is an $18000 difference from the national average.

The 66,000 mentioned means nothing – it was an estimate somebody made up. If it IS the low end of the govt payscale, then the it highlights a massive disparity between the private and public pay at that end of the scale – one that is clearly in favour of public employee.

Everybody needs to stop skewing figures to suit their own narrative. The real figures need to be known or no progress can be made !

Surely it can be run by non Government people. Even grounds clesnup. A landscaping company could have the job done in less time with far fewer people costing much less.

If as according to Sage commission all government departments are overstaffed, why is there EVER a need for overtime (excluding major events for certain services) ?

What does “non-essential overtime” even mean ? Why would it ever occur ?

Are salaried government employees actually receiving overtime payments ? If so, why ? Salaried employees generally do not get overtime in the private sector.

Why, if government is overstaffed are they budgeting for 360 vacant posts in the first place ? They are vacant, they should remain so unless there is specialised expertise required.

Finally – why does it cost $400,000 to run a 3 day agricultural show on grounds that do not need to be rented and where there is an entrance fee and the concessions pay fees to be there ?

There seems to be so much inefficiency everywhere, it is mind boggling.

It is akin to me saying, “well I was going to build me a mansion in Tucker’s town, but since in decided against it I saved $10mn!” Genius I am I tell you. Pure and utter genius.

The PLP response was that he was a fear mongerer and that the PLP would rather have an overheating economy as opposed to a luke warm one. Exemplifies the brilliant economic minds in the Opposition’s ranks at the time (and probably still).

This is an orchestrated coup by the PLP, BIU and Tweed. In every they spread false truths via propaganda, the transmission methods are Radio, Church and Town hall. The Sheeple allow this hate filled and divisive propaganda to cloud their judgement. But as soon as the sheeple see their protest days go unpaid they go back to the feeding trough of government, slowly sucking the marrow out of our Island’s financial future.

99% of the people who were out there earlier this week are PLP voters. They supported the financial demise of Bermuda by failing to question their PLP government when Billions was borrowed and squandered. Now they must pay the price for the actions of their masters. The OBA do not need to pander to these people, these people will leech Bermuda into the third world given the chance.

LET 500 JOBS BE AXED THEN THEY CAN GO CRY TO THE UNION!

The Col. is also on record as calling him an alarmist and saying his green people see nothing but good times ahead. Perhaps the Col was just speaking for certain individuals and not the country as a whole though.

Then in their last summation point they note only $18mn was achieved.

Therefore, the Premier is correct that the target has not been met as agreed by all parties involved.

Also, when calculating the likely savings from the hiring free why would they use the upper estimates of the civil servant salary of $78k. So if they are going to fill 20% or 72 jobs out of the 360 vacant positions are they saying that each and everyone of those positions average a wage of $78k annually?

If that is the case then one must assume that all the supporters of the actions over the last week were either exaggerating or lying about how poor the average government salary is in comparison with the private sector.

I even read and heard claims that most government workers make only around $40k a year with others claiming that because of the one furlough day a month some were required to get 2 extra jobs to make up the one day’s missed pay.

When calculating the possible cost savings of the hiring freeze wouldn’t it be sensible to use the lower average salary figure of $66k (which is still higher than the average private sector salary) for conservative purposes?

Sounds to me that the Union reversed engineered their numbers to achieve the result they desired. Glad to see the Government representatives were smart enough to catch that and reduce the Unions’ unrealistic $15mn estimate to a more realistic figure of $6mn.

Either way no matter how you slice it the two ends of the civil servant average wage ($66k to $78k) is still superior to the average private sector wage of around $60k.

January 28 2015 5:58 PM
Rev Tweed: Govt and BTUC agree furloughs will be “considered as a last resort”

Does it matter that these unions are based on greed, selfishness and a lack of understanding of basic economics?

Does it matter that Bermuda was once the smallest country in the world that had the financial power to lend money to the world bank, yet, just a few decades later are facing a crippling debt?

It doesn’t seem to matter to any of the union members who just took half a week off of work.

Gary Philips: “The Government and the Bermuda Trade Union Congress (BTUC) agree that furloughs will be considered as a last resort.”

Michael Dunkley: “The Government and the BTUC agree that continuing the furlough day will be considered as a last resort.”

Chris Furbert: “This was a good day for the labour movement. Having furloughs yesterday and today, from our point of view, that is a good compromise,”

The BTUC are NOT being honest brokers!

Also, what isn’t taken into account are the benefits received. Examples include but are not limited to the Government (i.e. taxpayer) funded pension benefits, 6 weeks vacation, union/coffee breaks, a crazy number of paid sick days that can be rolled over etc.)