Thursday, September 16, 2010

Apologising for telling the truth

It's always interesting to watch the righteous/leftists in action as they deal with the truth. Take Tony McGuirk who claimed that some (note not all) workers in the public sector are "bone idle". Apparently the Fire Brigade Union had been inundated with angry calls about the comments (no doubt from offended bone idle workers). The interesting thing is that he said during his time as chief officer, the number of firefighters at Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service had been cut from 1,550 to 850.
He said the 40% reduction had not had a detrimental effect on the service, but had actually improved it. Which rather suggests that indeed some staff were not doing a good job and that there was room for improvement. However that's simply not allowed in today's society, telling the truth, particularly when it's inconvenient or shows a righteous/leftist organisation up in a bad light particularly when you have the evidence to prove it is a big no no. So he had to apologise, Mr McGuirk has said in hindsight he used language which he now "regrets".
But Fire Brigades Union (FBU) general secretary Matt Wrack said the apology was insufficient and has called for his resignation, after all pointing out that his members were bone idle and getting rid of 40% of them plus improving the service offered was quite clearly a bridge too far. Matt Wrack pointed out that by sacking McGuirk and reclaiming his £200,000 salary they could employ another 6 (bone idle) firemen who would no doubt be in the union and contribute towards his pay and pension.
Mark Dunne, chairman of Merseyside Fire Brigade Union (FBU), did not go as far as calling for his job but said his remarks were the latest in a long line of "inappropriate comments". 

So inappropriate is now another word for truthful?
"We have received dozens of e-mails from people within the NHS and other public sectors bodies expressing their disgust at his speech," said Mr Dunne.
"The majority of us work in the public sector because we believe in it and we understand that we are providing an essential service."

So dozens of emails are an inundation now?
I don't think the public sector really realise just how they are viewed by those of us who work in the private sector. We know all the tales, the horror stories and the truth about how little at times they have to do. We note the featherbedding and the pensions and we also note the pay rises in a recession when the private sector in some cases took pay cuts to keep jobs.
Tony McGuirk simply said what a lot of us think about the public sector, personally I think he was if anything rather mild in his criticism.

6 annotations:

James Higham said...

And their trips to the Bahamas.

Trooper Thompson said...

The public sector is crammed to the rafters with lead-swinging lazy bastards that figure they can't be sacked. The problem is that the public sector is not run on economic principles, but rather like a mirror image. You have to spend money, or else next year you'll get less. The incentive is to spend a little more than your budget, which in the good old days of Labour would then be made good out of unspent funds somewhere else. They like to con themselves that they are making a sacrifice by foregoing a larger salary in the private sector when in reality most would earn less, and they like to flatter themselves that they are performing essential services, which generally they are not.

Furor Teutonicus said...

Let them all go on strike.

Those you do not miss are the ones to sack.

English Pensioner said...

My daughter is a Public employee. Her small department has been recently reduced from 13 to 7, one of whom is on maternity leave and one on sick leave with stress. The head took early retirement in a huff!
I remarked to my daughter that she must be overworked now, and she told me that the work load had gone down, most being caused by the boss who wanted written reports on everything and regular meetings with minutes and all the other paraphernalia, which invariably involved staff from other department who were doing much the same. Now, with no reports, quick phone calls instead of most of the meetings, the work is up to date and she's still not pushed.
Oh, the person off with stress claims it was brought about my daughter asking him to come in to work at something like the correct time! Perhaps he was shaken by the fact that someone actually believed that he was being paid to do some work!

Eddie Douthwaite said...

The Tobacco Control Charity? ASH Scotland have been plastering the Scottish Media with stories like confetti. Here is the Press Release from Freedom To Choose(Scotland) in reply to one of them.

http://www.pr-inside.com/ash-scotland-looks-for-support-from-r2122136.htm

Malthebof said...

To speak the truth today is tantamount to a hate crime. Society has come to believe that no one should be offended by another persons views/beliefs. I think that recently in a Canadian court a judge ruled that the truth was no defence