Northern Ireland Civil Servants claim £24m in sick pay.

[Sky Blue]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/avdb/news/uk/video/107000/bb/107496_16x9_bb.asx

Do you guys get paid your full pay when you ring in sick? Unbelievable!! No wonder the 6 counties are bankrupt and everybody wants to work for the government rather than creating real wealth in the private sector.

You're probably better off on the sick what with not travelling to work an buying lunches etc and no child care costs. How do the public put up with it? Do they no realise they are paying for the lazy b**tards to lay about at home? Oh I forgot- Britain picks up the tab. So that's all right then.

[Long time dead]

The Civil Servants in the North are a complete joke - I mentioned before I have mates in the Civil Service who say they are taking next week off etc. as they have sick leave to use - hopefully with the merger of the Education and Library Boards and the other projects across the civil service most of the access baggage can be dropped.

[Sky Blue]

The Civil Servants in the North are a complete joke - I mentioned before I have mates in the Civil Service who say they are taking next week off etc. as they have sick leave to use - hopefully with the merger of the Education and Library Boards and the other projects across the civil service most of the access baggage can be dropped.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6907300.stm

Err no. The Tennis girl has called off the mergers. Doesn't want to upset the staff. Who runs the feckin show up there?? 

[illdecide]

I was in the Civil Service for 2 years and did not take one day off sick in that time and majority of the technical staff were the same.

The problem lay with the admin staff they were the lazy bas****s and the ones always off sick, obviously they are the least paid and therfore have the "don't give a fu**" attitude. I knew a guy who took 6 months off with stress (25 year old) and was away working in a bookies shop at the same time getting 2 wages, i don't know how they got away with it....

[Long time dead]

The Civil Servants in the North are a complete joke - I mentioned before I have mates in the Civil Service who say they are taking next week off etc. as they have sick leave to use - hopefully with the merger of the Education and Library Boards and the other projects across the civil service most of the access baggage can be dropped.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6907300.stm

Err no. The Tennis girl has called off the mergers. Doesn't want to upset the staff. Who runs the feckin show up there?? 

Defies belief; God forbid these people have to get real jobs.  

[Long time dead]

I was in the Civil Service for 2 years and did not take one day off sick in that time and majority of the technical staff were the same.

The problem lay with the admin staff they were the lazy bas****s and the ones always off sick, obviously they are the least paid and therfore have the "don't give a fu**" attitude. I knew a guy who took 6 months off with stress (25 year old) and was away working in a bookies shop at the same time getting 2 wages, i don't know how they got away with it....

Sums it up; what the f**k was he stressed about - having to get up everyday and go to work.  The Unions have too much wack and therefore the employees just take the piss.

[ludermor]

Would the civil service be as bad in the north as in the south, cause there as some shower of wasters down here.

[Fiodoir Ard Mhacha]

So Peter 'The Punt' Robinson is gonna sort this all out - what, by probably outsourcing half of the services so they become someone else's problem.

I wouldn't say the north is bankrupt, thanks to our generous benefactors, but don't speak too soon - there could be plans to outsource the whole place onto someone else's lap - are ye ready, Bertie!

[Spiritof98]

Sure even if they make it to work they do f**k all anyway. A mate of mine said his office was a joke, on his 1st day he was given some work to do, he completed it by the end of the day and went back on Tuesday and was told the work he was given on the Monday was to do him all week.

[Aristotle Flynn]

I worked in the NI Civil Service for 2 years back in the early 1990s - Dundonald House in Stormont. Couldn't wait to get out. Absolutly no work to do. We were just keep on to manage the unemployment figures IMO. I was bored to death every day and sat counting the minutes. I eventually left when I got a real job but most of the rest will never leave because they'll lose their pension. That's a real big thing to most Civil servants, even younger ones.

It was sad to see young graduates coming in full of enthusiasim only to end up bored out of their minds in a few months and sucked into the lazy civil service culture. The only people I ever saw do any work were the very senior guys who worked flat out with Ministers but never delegated anything. A strange place.

[Fiodoir Ard Mhacha]

A few of them may need this very shortly!

http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/layer?topicId=1079123792&r.li=1079363506&r.l1=1073858787&r.pp=11&r.pt=employingpeople&r.s=p

[Blacksheep]

There are 30,000 Northern Ireland Civil Servants for a population of 1.7m and 27,000 Irish (Free State) Civil Servants for a population of 4.1m. Says it all really.
A job creation scheme.

[Fiodoir Ard Mhacha]

excerpt from a CIVIL SERVICE ENTRANCE EXAM

Should you pass this exam and become a member of the civil service, you will enjoy a unique package of fringe benefits, including: an early retirement scheme which allows you to retire while still turning up for work; flexitime which enables you to decide when you don't want to work at work, plus free use of government stationery this has been facilitated by the introduction of eight-items-or-less lanes as you leave the building.


MULTIPLE CHOICE:


1. If you are about to take your lunchbreak and a female member of the general public comes with an inquiry, you should address her by saying:


a. Can I help you, madam?

b. A-huh?

c. What can I do you for, mate?

d. Who's next there (when there's only one person)?


The correct answer is: None of the above. This is a trick question.

If you are about to take your lunchbreak, you shouldn't talk to her at all.



2. If a member of the general public phones up with a complaint and you realise that the file on this matter has been lost, you should say:


a. We are looking into the matter.

b. Can I get back to you on this one?

c. The matters have been referred to another member of staff who's on holiday today.

d. Bear with me......then play some nice wee tune by The Corrs whilst they are on hold.


The correct answer is that you should tell them that they have the wrong telephone extension.



SPELLING:


1. Spell the following words:


a. Tea

b. Sickie

c. Lunchbreak

d. Go-slow



MATHEMATICS:


Please answer the following questions in the spaces provided on your answer sheet.



1. If you went to lunch at 12 noon and came back to work at 2.30pm how long have you had for lunch?

The answer of course, is half an hour.



2. If one civil servant takes 3 hours to process a 321/L3/MX1 form, how long would it take two public servants to process the same form?

The answer is, of course, is four days.


For those of you who failed the maths test, you will be eligible to become a income tax adviser.

[Bacon]

Robinson will talk big but do FA about it.

Sickness levels 'will be tackled' 

Mr Robinson said sickness levels need to be reduced
The problem of absenteeism in Northern Ireland's civil service will be tackled one way or another, Finance Minister Peter Robinson has said.
Mr Robinson said the executive had to carefully monitor the situation using existing procedures.

But public service union Nipsa insisted that comparisons with sick leave rates in the private sector were misleading.

They said civil service figures also include long-term illnesses, but sick leave levels were otherwise similar.

Union spokesman John Corey said the "big stick approach to addressing sick leave... just demoralises staff".

"Unfair treatment over pay, threats to their jobs from privatisation and expenditure cuts all contribute to stress and sick leave levels - these matters need to be addressed," he said.

However, Mr Robinson said the situation would be reviewed every three months.

He said 40% of civil servants never took a day off, but were being placed under great strain by a further 10 or 11% who, he said, were "frankly swinging the lead".

"Urgent action has to be taken," the finance minister said.

"We are talking about the equivalent of the whole of the Department of Education, the whole of the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure and the whole of the Office of the First and Deputy First Minister being absent for the complete year."


Last month Mr Robinson claimed urgent action was needed to tackle the problem of absenteeism in the civil service.

He said the problem cost the tax payer more than £24m last year - a figure that's expected to rise.

The executive will also hold an initial discussion on the Workplace 2010 initiative, a five-year programme to modernise and rationalise civil service accommodation.

[lynchbhoy]

civil servants down here are bad, and have similar traits to the ones in the 6 counties, but down here they are not nearly as bad.

When we go for the UI, we need to address this problem of too many , and poor quality of civil servants in NI.