‘Blaming Public Employees Rather Than Policies’
“Too often some members of the public are eager to blame the Island’s woes on public service employees rather than on the policies and political decisions enacted by our politicians,” BPSU president Jason Hayward said today.
“It appears as if many in this Country would like for all to believe that the Government’s financial woes are a result of having to pay public service employees’ salaries,” continued Mr Hayward.
“Despite the claims that the Public Service is overstaffed and bloated, there has been no comprehensive analysis done to determine the optimum number of staff required to run the public service.
“It is important to note that the role of Bermuda’s Public Service is to serve society so that its citizens receive benefits to enable them to enjoy the standard of living that they do in Bermuda.
“These services include: defense and security, law and order, education, healthcare, physical infrastructure, transportation, telecommunications, revenue collection, etc.
“However, taxes are needed to fund these services. The priority should be to ensure that adequate taxes are collected rather than placing additional financial hardship on our public service employees.
“It is hypocritical for persons to continue to call for the reduction of public service jobs and wages while there are private sector companies who are not paying their fair share of taxes. The emphasis must be on shared sacrifice and a re-balancing of the burden.
“When persons call to cut public sector jobs, have they given critical thought to that suggestion? If the Government was to cut the public services employees, what next?
“As there are declining jobs in the economy, where do the displaced find alternative employment? What industry is hiring mass numbers of employees? Where would persons who have been made redundant find money to survive?
“Will this then result in an increased need for financial assistance? Let’s keep in mind that in 2014/15, approximately $53 million was spent on financial assistance with 2,727 persons receiving government support. Can we afford to increase this burden?
“Without public service employees, the country simply cannot function. Public service employees are taxpayers. They are also the largest employee consumer group on the Island. They are professionals dedicated to providing a service to this Island. They also have families to support.
“Despite the continuous attacks, public servants have remained productive with many having taken on additional tasks due to a reduction of public service employees.
“Public Servants have sacrificed in the last two years by saving the Government a significant amount of money through taking furloughs; a cost savings initiative that originated from the BTUC.
“As a condition of the acceptance of furlough days, the BTUC insisted that the Economic Tripartite Committee be formed in an effort to work collaboratively to seek ways in which to address our current negative economic conditions.
“In addition, public service unions made an unprecedented step by assisting the Government with expenditure reduction by suggesting approximately $65 million in cost savings; many of these suggestions came directly from public service employees.
“The BPSU will remain committed to encouraging our members to provide quality public services while at the same time defending public service employees against unwarranted attacks on their livelihood. “
Wait, so he’s suggesting that it’s currently not overstaffed or bloated?
Nobody likes the idea of job losses and wage cuts, but if the money coming in can’t support the wages, what else is one to do?
I’m confused too. His line of thinking is as straight as Harbour Road.
We are blaming the policies, Jason! Too many public sector workers hired and not enough money coming in the door to support them. Bad policy! You suggest raising taxes (again) on the private sector?! Ask Paula Cox how that worked out. Another bad policy!
I guess the only criteria to becoming a union boss is having good rhetoric skills, but if you could please indulge us all in a fact, and answer these two questions:
1) How many private sector workers have lost their jobs on this island?
2) How many government workers have lost their jobs?
I get that you’re a career Government worker, but you REALLY need to learn about how wealth is CREATED vs merely distributed/lost. In all fairness, you’ve got plenty o’ company on this lovely island.
Wealth is created by taking money from those who have the least.
Sort of like if you open a betting shop in the poorest part of town. I see.
Where did they get the money that is taken from them in the first place?
Actually, I lay more of the blame on the unions, their failure to ensure that their membership adheres to the best standards that they can employ so at a smaller CS could be employed to manage the work load enquires to effectively operate government is very much at the heart of the complaint about CS proformance and effectiveness. The unions create an environment of job protectionism rather than job performance and have and continue to protect the jobs of undeserving employees. They have repeatedly brought this country to standstills through illegal industrial actions to protect employees who through their own incompetence, callousness or negligence, have landed them in positions that should have seen them fired. The illegal actions taken in January reflect just how much of a problem the unions play in preventing any meaningful dialogue to make the CS more effective. They lied to their membership when they called a meeting that the leadership unilaterally decided to turn into a 3 day strike, they lied to the membership when they said they were striking to prevent the government from continuing furlough days, when the government didn’t have the power to continue them, and they failed to consult their membership about what they wanted to do about the situation. They lied to their membership when they announced a deal had been settled and done, when the agreement was only good if it could measure up to real world metrics. And even now in this opinion piece, it is obvious that Mr. Hayward hasn’t the inkling about how Bermuda’s economy works, and can work for the people because he can only view with a labour mindset and not a business one. His piece reflect more of an attempt to try and justify himself than deal with our reality. CS has a part to play in a successful Bermuda, but that can only be realized if it can operate as an environment for production and not job protection.
Like X 50
Don’t forget the B.T.A.
Huh…The BTA effectively private what was an inefficient and ineffective department as gave Bermuda value for money. BTW how come you’re not harping on Jeremy Cox and the rest of the BMA’s annual salaries and bonuses or if that different?
Yep. The policies make you call in sick.
They need to cut the Government in half and do away with the Governor. Or downsize his home. I see no need for the Governor to be housed in a home for 50 people.
The public sector workers saved us money? How many of them were there in 1998? How many of them are there now?
The public sector is generally inelastic Jason – that’s why it should never been allowed to get as large as it did.
The government does not have sufficient revenue to afford the size of the public sector we currently have.
The government needs to foster an entrepreneur environment as opposed to making working for the government more attractive than working in the private sector.
If the State of New York can give 10 year tax holidays to business why can’t we?
Sorry Mr. Hayward, but public service employees do not produce any tax revenue for the Government as they are paid from private sector taxes. Thus they provide no new income for the Government.
The comprehensive review you claim hasn’t been conducted is in the form of the SAGE report. It is there and to pretend that no study has been completed is incorrect.
Basically you believe that the ever shrinking private sector should be burdened with more taxes to support the never shrinking public sector. Even Cordell Riley noted a few months back that if the civil service followed BDA’s economic trends it would’ve been reduced to 3,400 employees.
So the BPSU thinks that private sector redundancies will just be an unfortunate result of ensuring the massive civil service is retained along with all their benefits and current pay? That will be exactly what happens if you raise taxes on job creators further of which you are not. On top of that these companies are in BDA for te tax structure and not the pink sand. Hence why the PLP extended the tax agreement to 2035. So take away that incentive then you take away jobs, tax revenue, charitable donations, scholarships for Bermudians and much needed foreign currency earnings. All just so the public service remains unscathed.
Cutting jobs is not the answer as of now I agree. But neither are your suggestions of attempting to squeeze more and more from the private sector who funds 100% of your members’ salaries and by extension the union dues that pays your salary.
“Without public service employees, the country simply cannot function. Public service employees are taxpayers. ”
Q) Where does all that revenue come from that they pay their tax out of????
A) the private sector.
Perhaps Mr Hayward is suggesting that those companies who currently owe taxes to the government (I believe the figure stands at 85 million) should be chased down and the outstanding monies collected.
Of the civil servants paid to collect that money were doing their job then yes, we would have the money. SMH
@ Sickofantz,
Actually the Govt is chasing down that money & more, I know from experience. Mind you the arrears didn’t accumulate overnight so the Govt sure won’t be collecting that 85 mil plus overnight. Some they likely won’t get at all.
Pity but typical that Mr. Hayward’s main thrust is mainly on collecting unpaid or underpaid taxes from those same private companies many of which have come through the recession on their knees with wage freezes or cuts and staff reductions, just like in the CS right Mr. Hayward? LOL Yeah Right!.
Many small/private businesses are over taxed as it is which is why the arrears exist. And all so that persons like Mr. Hayward can keep his high earning, benefit heavy no accountability jobs at their expense.
The CS is still too big, drawing too much Govt revenue & is inefficient as heck. Maybe Mr Hayward & others in the CS should start a few businesses and contribute to the solution. Yeah Right!!
Simple question Mr. Hayward….if a comprehensive analysis were to show the PS were overstaffed do you then support reductions? Or to avoid reductions would you support the reimplementation of furloughs and/or the restructuring of sick and holiday pay?
My guess is that you would find fault with any analysis that didn’t support your position with the members who pay your salary…and who could blame you?
Read this and you will begin to understand what happened to the Civil Service under the chaos & confusion of the PLP:
http://bermuda.io/dataset/office-of-the-auditor-general-annual-report/resource/d23f3646-7ed0-4dbf-a5fc-c0c2a8bd4925
easy solution….anyone making over 100K take a 3% salary cut, INCLUDING MPs PS and other government departmental heads!
Get rid of the ps’s. And their cars and does government need all those cars
We sacrificed and took a furlough in exchange for no layoffs yet still had to pay union dues, a deduction that if you really cared about your membership could have been suspended for a year to make up for the income loss.
So why didn’t the union also sacrifice a years worth of income in solidarity with it’s membership?
Oh right, because you needed that money to make yourself a full time position. This article is just another attempt to ensure you don’t lose your income stream.
If the Christmas party wasn’t so fun my dues would have been going to a worthy charity a long time ago!
OBA I feel you pain policy sent unemployed civil servants on a one way trip to England. They can pay their airfare of $ One Thousand dollars out of their severance pay and don’t expect to come back; We have already told you; Bermudians don’t have a birthright?
Alvin…can you outline for us what exactly you believe is guaranteed with a birthright, please?
You have used the term a lot (daily) but have never defined specifically what it means. It’s just thrown out there in the haze and suggested that it is somehow being denied or removed.
Alvin loves to use the “birthright” and “accident of birth” to try and show the OBA are non Bermudian. If he was prepared to listen, read and research he would understand that as both Senators Fahy and Marshall are lawyers, these are accepted and normal legal terms. If you don’t believe ask Marc Daniels or Kim Wilson. Nothing more, nothing less and not derogatory. Unfortunately truth has an anti PLP bias and so the continuing spread of misinformation from the likes of Alvin will continue.
How can anyone dislike? Read what I asked…what is the problem with wanting an answer to that? Id**.
Alvin is Ehibit 1A why Bermuda needs to dramatically improve its education system.
I agree the ubp years did nothing educate Bermudians.
And the PLP rode in on a horse promising to fix the education system. 14 years later…nothing. Just more promises of what they were “gonna do”.
Best to privatise & pay by voucher to parents redeemable at the school of their choice.
Birthright is a nationalistic myth, you earn what you work for. Why should someone who has worked and contributed here for 25 years have less of a say than someone who hasn’t for 18 years?
hey Alvin explain birthright ? I am one six kids to my dad who was one in twelve to my grandparents. you can image how many cousins I have most I have no clue I even have great nephews and nieces some maybe close to my age many of us have ties to other places I for example born abroad. but am Bermudian and my family as such., but again there are people who come and work here or worked her during the plp years who had Bermuda born babies also the uigurs kids. are you trying to say that the kids of those temporary workers or residents that where born here should have more rights than me because I was born abroad?????
please explain birth right !!!!!
Alvin contact your friends in the former Government who set up a group to send some of Bermuda’s less fortunate to the UK so they could go on the dole there….they did not seem to care are their “birthright”….granted it is difficult to find the right balance of dealing with such an oversized civil service……
Mr. Hayward’s premise that companies are not paying their fair share of taxes is wrong and ignores the reason those companies are on island, which is our current tax regime, guaranteed to 2035. Even if we changed it, it would simply give them time to relocate, but in any event, would not arrest our current decline. The majority of the private sector revenues come from companies located here, which fuel both the local business revenues and the Government revenues. If we can separate the reduction in civil service salary expenses (goal) from lay offs, furloughs and wage cuts (methods) perhaps we can examine other methods (voluntary early retirement, attrition without backfilling) which produce the same result without the necessary hardship on working families.
bingo!
“The BPSU will remain committed to encouraging our members to provide quality public services while at the same time defending public service employees against unwarranted attacks on their livelihood. “
This is akin to “you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink it”.
The Union makes valiant attempts to ‘encourage’ its members to provide good public service but we as a people are too opiniionated; don’t ALL follow instruction/direction well; are not ALL willing to give an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay; make excuses for poor service/behaviour instead of owning our shortcomings and improving on them.
All this whilst the Govt ‘tries’ to make harsh financial decisions in order to keep the country floating.
our problems are cyclical and deep rooted and this country will not change for the better when we ALL make a collective effort to strive forward (and realise) that public servants are and always will be treated differently than their private sector counterparts – in some instances better and other ways horribly worse.
the difference will come when it isn’t only the Union executive and the minority of the membership that want to provide EXCELLENT service versus what APPEARS to be the majority who reap the benefits of Union Membership without holding their end of the bargain…………..
that said, when the proverbial ‘horse’ wants water and there is none to drink – what then?
i enjoy the musings of Mr. Larry Burchall because the figures don’t lie when you look at the financial disarray the country is in currently and the attacks on the Union membership (and the persons who choose not to be BPSU Union Members but are lumped in as a result of being a Public Servant [yes they do exist].
Once the politrickans (and this includes the OBA/PLP collectively) set the stage and take a pay cut, this country is headed down a road LIKE Greece, just not as slippery as a slope though. (name me 5 politicians who are not successful business persons – i bet that you will have a hard time) they all have secondary sources of income and in some cases, multiple sources, some of which are conflicting with the interests of the People and the Public Purse.
additionally, the sad reality is that there are a number of jobs in the civil service that are redundant in nature but are there so can’t just be axed.
the advent of computerization, modern economies of scale and a myriad of performance enhancing policies and procedures worldwide that are not being fully utilised will eventually see the downsizing of the civil service – it is merely economics that will see the size of the civil service decrease over time.
one thing i know as a working male in his ‘middle aged years’ is that i ahve seen many jobs in the civil service get ‘over inflated’.
by this i mean, they are made to be cumbersome and complicated to a newly recruited govermnment employee but after you sift through cyclical and non-sensical procedures, you can see how jobs can be streamlined to allow for better service with less effort which would eliminate the bloatedness that so many complain about.
when the current generation of workers and the next ones to be educated see the processes, they will make the country more streamlined as is the case in the private sector who is driven by profit margins.
govts are not in the business of profit therefore, some will not make their decisions for improving service levels and performance based on the same mindset.
as oprah said, some people will have to die off before attitudes change and in Bermuda, that appears to be at least three generations away……………..maybe too long of a period for the survival of our country.
Sage Commission report: “We are aware that a Leadership Competency Review was undertaken in 2011 by the National School of Government with 50 of the most senior employees of Civil and Public Service.
We were REFUSED access to this report despite clear statutory authority for such access.”
Would be nice if Mr. Hayward would release this report…
Why should the Private Sector pay more taxes just to support the over populated and over benefited Civil Service? Why should the Private Sector pay more taxes to support benefits not available in the Private Sector?
As an immediate and urgent step, the Public Sector needs to be brought in line with the Private Sector. Examples :
Vacation 3 – 6 weeks depending on length of service.
Sick Leave – 10 days and no carry forward.
Pension – Contribution only, not Defined Benefit.
In the comment Mr. Hayward uses the figures for Financial Aid. This proves the benefit to Bermuda to reduce the Civil Service by around the same number. If 2,727 people receive $53m then cutting that number from the Public Sector would cost another $53m but save at least $200m. ($100,000 per person in costs which is low. Mr. Hayward has in fact provided the justification to cut the overstaffed Civil Service to balance the budget and stop further borrowing. Now implement it.
“Too often some members of the public are eager to blame the Island’s woes on public service employees rather than on the policies and political decisions enacted by our politicians,” BPSU president Jason Hayward said today.
No one is blaming public sector employees. Instead, we blame the fiscal incompetence of the for,we government that needlessly grew the division service to an unsustainable size.
“… of the FORMER…” “… grew the CIVIL service…”
Ringmaster is quite right.
Also, the concept of shared sacrifice went out of the window when the furlough days were ended. Ask anyone in the private sector whether they would rather lose their job or have furlough days? The public sector workers were given the choice of furlough versus not furlough. This is the wrong question!
Trim the excess govt fat!
make police pay for their own health insurance
get rid off all those government cars
down size government house
every goverment woker that makes over$100,000 take a 20% drop in pay
and those who make over $100,000 take a 30% drop in pay
no more performance treets for the BTA
down size cabinet
no more junior ministers
fire service to have only fire fighting vehicles no more toys
In no way do I blame the employees. They didn’t hire themselves.
I blame the policies of certain governments which bloated the civil service to what it has become. So yes the BPSU is right to blame policies. But in all honesty they are blaming the wrong policies I imagine.
But that doesn’t change the reality of the situation unfortunately.
Thinking about it a bit more here is the real kick up the “back side”.
Jason Hayward wants the Private Sector to pay more taxes – that is reduce their take home pay – just so the cossetted Public Sector can continue to receive their benefits and current salary. Remember that there is a suppose hiring freeze, but that doesn’t stop promotions. So the cost of the Civil Service continues to increase. Don’t be surprised if the silent majority who pay the taxes one day rears up and shows that enough is enough.
Exactly. The civil service pretend they gave had no pay increases, but actually they get reviews which result in pay increases every year. While the rest of us, who pay for it all, have had no ncreases for years, even assuming we have managed to keep a job in the first place.
So the question remains,after the last recession was nothing put in place about government spending in the eventuality of a future world crises.Did they believe that was the last and final one to occur in our lifetime and from here on would be rainbows and unicorns.The PLP let us down by not revealing how bad things were early enough and the OBA simply can not be trusted.How can a man be entrusted with a ministry when he has recently failed as our leader.
Mr Premier how many times have you circled the covered wagons since you took over as leader?Where are the things you promised in the election,and please don’t use the furlough days as a scapegoat.It appears to humble ol me you had no plan in place and believed that after the two years were up you could chokehold the civil servants into another two years of the same thing.
How come only after the poo poo has hit the fan that everyone has this great epiphany that the civil service is bloated.If it could be seen now how come it was not seen then.Private sector people remind me of the village mob with pitchforks and lanterns looking to kill anything or anyone that will make them feel secure.We all had our heads in the sand as long as our pockets were full and we could get on a plane twice a year.
seen than*
How many Civil Servants are members of or normally vote for the PLP? Just wondering.
Jason – have you ever walked through Government offices at 9am or 4.30pm? How many staff are actually doing anything? I know – I’m there and usually the only one. Take a look at the massively bloated HR Dept – what do they actually do? There is so much waste and underproductivity in every department it’s incredible. I know we Bermudians are laid back, but there has to be a limit. Architects – why do we even have them, we can’t afford to build anything. How long does it take to build a wall or a traffic island?? The maintenance section – what do they do? Sure as hell isn’t maintenance. You may think that the civil service gives excellent service, but so much of it is a complete and utter waste of money. Open your eyes and see what’s in front of you, not what you think is happening.
Have a. Look at the. Job. At black watch. Pass. And see how many. People are
Working on that site
I can answer that as I just drove past. No-one. Not a single person. If that had been a private sector job it would have been finished a long time ago, and probably for a lot less than it’s costing Government to pay unproductive workers.
Probably a Union thing as it was raining a few hours ago.
Spot on! I see what you see when I go to work as well! Efficiency and economy of effort aren’t buzz words in the current civil service
Another Frustrated Employee
Perhaps Mr. Hayward and the BTUC might release their complete list of savings of $65 million so we might asses if it is realistic or not? I think much of it may be pie-in-the-sky wishful thinking… Furlough days were a good deal for the civil service yet the BTUC, who say they represent their interests, made a terrible deal that may well come back to haunt them. And we need much more savings than can be provided by just furlough days…
I just blame overpaid Union Leaders like this guy.
Legalize Marijuana tax the hell out of us for it and you will make tons of money. Government has stalled on this too long and people are dying because they have no medicine. You want to tax the private sector more when our cost of living is already horrible and employers don’t give raises to compensate governments continued greed.
For those who doubt my statement
http://www.9news.com/story/money/business/2014/07/11/colorado-marijuana-tax-revenue/12525979/
And for those who think marijuana is wrong and should be illegal I hope you also are fighting to illegalize alcohol the worlds most dangerous drug and the real gateway drug, if not just keep your silence
Weed is fine yes. Completely harmless in fact. Just ask someone who has regularly smoked it for a few decades.
The fact that they speak at half speed is purely coincidental.
Relaxed Brain Syndrome (RBS) is what it is – but not caused by the weed at all. No, never.
If it carried over in Bermuda in proportion with our population compared to Colorado’s, it would raise about $400,000 a year.
In other words it would cost more to collect it than it would raise.
So there goes that myth.
Funny how this union was never critical from 1998 – 2012 when their friends in the PLP were destroying our economy
The public sector really needs to stop depending on the private sector, the easiest solution to me would be to keep the civil service the way it is and change the benefits. I don’t remember the exact figures of how many sick days, holidays and benefits that they receive but I know it is more than double of the private sector. They can’t have everything!!!! So don’t fire them, but the saving in changing their mostly undeserving benefits I’m sure would be huge! The private sector can not afford anymore, we saw what happened when they raised the payroll tax, companies left.
“The BPSU will remain committed to encouraging our members to provide quality public services”
Encouraging? Mandating should be closer to the truth
Other than the 70 days a year they take off sick, I assume he means.
“The emphasis must be on shared sacrifice” Tell that to the Montpelier staff, I’m sure they’d agree with you …
jason is nothing more then a mouthpiece trying to cover up the ways of the bpsu membership
Sorry Jason, no matter how many times you repeat it, no matter how many times you try to reword it that dog don’t hunt.
There are far too many civil servants, doing far too little work, getting paid far too much, with benefits far too generous all sucking off a broke Bermuda.
1/3 of you have to go, & that will only take us back to 1998 levels when we already had far too many at the Government feeding trough.
Non sense. The government doesn’t need to save $65 million – it actually needs to save about $300 million to stand any chance of reversing this. Maybe we should have the civil service just stop doing anything at all and sit quietly – that ought to save a bundle!
Not that I expect anything else from this source to make better sense, if you gave some of this bunch enough exlax they would completely disappear. Collect all the taxes owed? I bet that would be really easy and isn’t being done because the people responsible for collections are not doing what? Their jobs perhaps. No – too simple. In reality a majority of those taxes are noncollectable and he knows it….
This is what you get when you try to sound clever and you are not.
Talking about exlax has anybody had a read of MMc & SD’s phone transcripts?
Just amazing that two people were actually allowed to run things for a while! Oh yes Bermuda we sure get the government(s) we deserve alright.
SO glad someone brought up those transcripts. Were they even speaking basic English? Not the sharpest tools in the shed. How did MM and SD get ahold of legislation before it was approved in the house? How and more importantly why was CC talking to SD about anything going on in the cabinet? CC obviously should not even be a Government Minister. It was obvious to me from the transcripts that CC in fact did threaten to cross the floor if he wasn’t given a Ministry. Galling indeed. Glad at least that he’s no longer Premier and that SD isn’t living here anymore.
Johnny my final paragraph was edited because I must have used a couple of too offensive nicknames for CC and SD but the fact remains that these two will go down as the most toxic bumblers this country has ever seen. I hope the 400 or so myopic voters at that distant evening at the SP realize the folly of using the superficial to determine leadership potential.
proposed smoking regulations are a great example of why we blame public employees rather than policies – public employees write the policies and they don’t care about the man on the street or private business. Public employees just want to regulate and control simple people enjoying simple things in life. It is disgusting and rightfully encourages negativity towards the overpaid public employees.
sadly, we’ve lost control of this island….people from outside tell us what to do now. The big exempt company directorships, top management, VP and other controlling positions are no longer held by King, Swan, Gibbons, Cox and others. There is no one to pitch government employment initiatives from the inside….Bermuda is SCREWED
Living in the future combined with our attitudes from the past is a bad concoction.Bermuda in a nutshell.
After sitting on my backside for more than 6 weeks due to under employment. … I for one am glad I got a job… 40 % less than I was making… but glad I have a job…
If the government cannot pay back it’s loans that are due in the next few yrs…
Jason and his mates will be scrabling for words…
And if.. the PLP get in on the next election cycle… God help bermuda. . Cuz the IMF will not…
I have one question to all, whats going to happen once everyone gets made redundant? If we’re at odds with financial assistants now at 50+ million; how would we manage 100+ million. Who is going to hire all those workers, these IB companies have the money and don’t need the red carpet and handout’s. Keep fighting Jason, one day they will wake up.
Another one who treats their Government job as some sort of full social asstance with very generous perks on top, with the only requirement being to show up & be in attendence a minimum period of time each day to shuffle some paper or surf the internet planning that next trip.
I’m not saying I necessarily agree with large scale lay offs, but if you make 100 people redundant and they were earning $75k a year, you save $7.5m.
If you then support these people with $25k of financial assistance, it costs you $2.5m.
So a saving of $5m.
Interesting maths