Newry Traffic Chaos

Re: Strikers go xmas shopping in NI

Squonk said:
I don't know why the panic shopping today....don't the public sector get an allowance of a half-day to do their Xmas shopping?!
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Certainly not in my agency, though it was one of the informal perks when I worked in the private sector.
 
Niallers said:
Cut income or cut numbers in public service. It's not a nice decision but there is really no alternative.
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THere are alternatives. Cut the €4billion planned spend on Anglo-Irish next year instead of cutting €4billion from services. That's one of many alternatives. This Govt has no mandate to cut public services.

Lex Foutish said:
What is understood doesn't have to be discussed.
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The old 'never let the facts get in the way of a good story' approach, I see. For more measured coverage, see [broken link removed]. Based on the small sample, some were strikers, some were not.
 
Re: Strikers go xmas shopping in NI

Complainer said:
Certainly not in my agency, though it was one of the informal perks when I worked in the private sector.
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I've heard of it in some areas in the public sector but the same applies in some areas in the private sector as well, I know we do it where I work. It's a simple cheap perk that always goes down well and we have rules in place that if we need to cancel it at short notice for operational reasons, then so be it

I don't blame anyone for going across the border, I do it myself and I find it hypocritical of a Minister in a so called Republican party to criticise people for doing it. After all, for years FF said we were all one on this island. I go across the border for better service, cheaper prices and the perception that I am being ripped off in the South by many retailers.

As for public sector workers going shopping, I do know of 2 people in different areas who were not union members, did not want to take a day off but were told by their managers that their unit would be closed on the day. One of them went North, can't say I blame her.
 
Re: Strikers go xmas shopping in NI

Indeed - utter hypocrisy, particularly as public procurement procedures oblige public bodies to look beyond our borders to seek best value for products and services, while our Ministers tell us to shop at home.
 
Complainer said:
THere are alternatives. Cut the €4billion planned spend on Anglo-Irish next year instead of cutting €4billion from services. That's one of many alternatives. This Govt has no mandate to cut public services.
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I'd agree the Anglo-Irish is a complete lame duck. However, disagree with the last bit. If the government has no mandate to manage public spending, who does? If the government had the mandate to increase the PS, it has the mandate to decrease the PS.

On the shopping in Newry, the damage is done. No matter how many or little were those on strike, there's no way of actually knowing or checking. It was a huge PR disaster. Rightly, the unions are trying to avoid giving any direct answer on it.

Realistically though: 250,000 PS/CS withholding labour compared to how many parents taking time off work? Couple thousand? Statistically, it's more likely that a greater proportion were PS/CS enjoyed a day out.
 
Latrade said:
Realistically though: 250,000 PS/CS withholding labour compared to how many parents taking time off work? Couple thousand? Statistically, it's more likely that a greater proportion were PS/CS enjoyed a day out.
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What about the parents of the 500,000 school going children (under 14) who were not in class yesterday. Where do they fit into your equation ?

Do Public Sector workers have a 'look' about them (or about their cars) that allows commentators to readily identify them ??

The word of one young man talking about his mate (off camera) and the car park attendant in Sainsburys seems to suffice....
 

So you're saying every single parent was off work? We know 250,000 or so PS/CS employees were. The amount of parents in a position to take time off is nowhere near that scale.

While some did take a day out of their own annual leave because of the strike, nice, it was not at the same level as 250,000. All parents I know remained in work and had alternative arrangements (largely because they couldn't afford to take the time off) or one parent took the time off. A more reasonable estimate of the number of those where both parents took the day off is a couple of thousand.
 
truthseeker said:
How many parents would be inclined to go shopping up north WITH the kids in tow?
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The feast day/school holiday of 8th December has traditionally been a busy shopping day for the very reason that the kids are off; there's no tie to the usual school routine and there's more scope to plan excursions. Doing anything with kids in tow, including holidays, is probably more hassle but you have to take advantage of any opportunity that's offered.

However, even if the people going to Newry yesterday were public servants, I'd say "so what?". They were already down a day's pay and they went to the north at their own expense just as their counterparts in the private sector would.

Given the choice between a day's pay and the opportunity to save a few euro in the north, most people would choose the former but if you're already off, what's the big deal? You could raise the old chestnut of whether going shopping in the north is unpatriotic but that's not an argument particular to this thread.
 
Complainer said:
some were strikers, some were not.
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So at the end of the day of strike we had McLoony giving in to cuts and pictures of the PS "strikers" shopping in Newry.
Well done unions. You managed the strike as efficiently as you run the public sector.
 
Where is the proof that any of these shoppers were striking union members? There is no proof at all!

All speculation... Hmmmm that word is familiar isnt it.

And just for the record, Not every PS/CS employee is a member of a union, and what those non union members do on their day off is up to them. Nobody has a right to even question what they do on their own time off.
 
The damage is done. BBC, RTE and all newspapers have run with the story. I am sure the bearded brethern will issue a circular before the next shopping trip.
 
Picket duty started at 8am and everyone was required to do a two hour stint. Therefore, many striking workers would have been able to head North (along with the thousands of parents whose kids were off school) to shop after their picket duty.
As for saying everyone should have been out on the street all day. What a load of nonsense. If everyone in my building had picketed at the same time we would have completely blocked the street. No doubt, you would then have been complaining about 'intimidation'.
People are constantly moaning about the Public Service not being efficient. When picket duty was organised in an efficient way you moan about that.
 
VOR said:
So at the end of the day of strike we had McLoony giving in to cuts and pictures of the PS "strikers" shopping in Newry.
Well done unions. You managed the strike as efficiently as you run the public sector.
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VOR said:
The damage is done. BBC, RTE and all newspapers have run with the story. I am sure the bearded brethern will issue a circular before the next shopping trip.
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Folks - Don't feed the trolls. When they have to resort to schoolyard namecalling, you know they have run out of real issues to complain about.
 
Complainer said:
Folks - Don't feed the trolls. When they have to resort to schoolyard namecalling, you know they have run out of real issues to complain about.
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Exactly what I was thinking. The level of debate has descended along predictable lines.
 
When you say he was not rostered, I presume he didn't put his name down on the roster. He obviously ignored the fact that picket duty was compulsory and let other people do all the slog. Nice! I wouldn't like to have him on my team at work.

However, I agree with Complainer. People are obviously trying to find any angle at this stage to attack the public service.
 
Perhaps if you had been laid off you would feel differently. But then again that will never happen to any of you.
 
Ham Slicer said:
Not true. My brother works in the HSE (union member) and he was not rostered and had the day off. Many of his colleagues likewise.
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I'm HSE and had 3 hours picket duty assigned to me. We didn't volunteer for picket it was expected of all union members. There are 300 union members in my workplace so there were 3 time slots starting at 8.30am.

I don't doubt there were union members who were not rostered for picket duty but your brothers case is not a reflection of case in the HSE.
 
liaconn said:
When you say he was not rostered, I presume he didn't put his name down on the roster. He obviously ignored the fact that picket duty was compulsory and let other people do all the slog. Nice! I wouldn't like to have him on my team at work.
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No - as I said he wasn't rostered. He was told he would not have to join the picket. Not sure how you conclude he's not a team player from that.
 
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