December 10, 2013

Dear Sir,

The unions are all screaming about the potential loss of Government jobs, and so they should, for the amount of money their members pay them. What they have to realise is that even the union dues paid by the Government employees come from someone in the Private sector and we are all heartily sick of supporting a bloated Government.

Saying that, none of us want another individual to suffer a job loss or wage decrease as many of us in the Private sector have, particularly those Government employees who benefit the people they serve. I’m also not a keen supporter of privatising Government functions because in time the service could cost more.

However, the Government is now so large, thank you PLP, that we cannot afford the salaries and benefits without borrowing hundreds of millions of dollars a year, so something has to give and the Private sector cannot give any more.

While I still believe that seriously underperforming individuals should be dismissed I have another suggestion that may work for the advised 1,700 Government employees that could be impacted by privatisation.

Where a government task can be quantified a tender document should be prepared and all interested parties allowed to bid for a 5 year service period, including the government department staff that currently carries out the work.

Government workers will have an advantage in that they don’t need to generate a profit but if they are still not the least cost proposal then the entire department should be terminated and allowed to offer their services to the successful contractor. If they are any good they will get their job back.

If the Government department has the least cost proposal then the managers of that department are allotted the contracted sum and that sum only to do the work. Should they fail to perform within their budget two years in a row then the service must be privatised. They would have had their chance to prove they were better than the private sector.

Bit harsh, maybe, but that is the real world in the Private sector.

For government services that cannot be quantified all personnel should be placed on annually renewable contracts. If they do not perform at better than “just satisfactory”, they do not get their contract renewed.

Within three years we could have a leaner and more cost effective and accountable Government if the OBA has the testicular fortitude to take on the unions.

If they do and the unions vote to strike, let them, but don’t pay them or provide benefits while they are not working.

Most of us wouldn’t even miss many of the “services” that are provided.

Waiting for solutions