United States Republican Presidential candidate, Vivek Ramaswamy, has pledged to fire half of all Federal workers on his first day in the Oval Office if he’s elected.
The biotech entrepreneur tweeted that he would “instantly fire 50 per cent of Federal bureaucrats on day one”.
“Here’s how: If your SSN (social security number) ends in an odd number, you’re fired. That downsizes Government by half. Absolutely nothing will break as a result,” Mr Ramaswamy (pictured) wrote.
“It doesn’t violate Civil Service rules because mass layoffs are exempt.
“This avoids Civil Service protections: No bureaucrat can claim their firings were politically motivated. Further firings can be executed with a chisel, but step one needs to be an unrestrained chainsaw or else it just won’t happen.”
While Mr Ramaswamy received instant mockery from a number of sources, other commentators noted that of all the Presidential candidates he is closest to Republican front-runner, Donald Trump and he could play a role in a future Trump Administration.
For the moment, the ridicule is flowing think and fast with Vanity Fair special correspondent, Molly Jong-Fast simply writing: “You okay?”
Podcaster Keith Olbermann urged Mr Ramaswamy to check himself into a psychiatric facility, while Condé Nast Legal Affairs Editor, Luke Zaleski wrote: “Vivek is a hedge-fund guy who wants you to believe he is interested in public service so he can eliminate Government from public life and in effect mount a private sector takeover of the country.”
There are more than two million civilians working for the Federal Government, excluding uniformed military staff and Federal contractors, according to the Congressional Research Service.
About 6.5 million Americans are currently unemployed.
Mr Ramaswamy said in a position paper in September that “the administrative State is an unconstitutional, fourth branch of Government”.
“We will use executive authority to shut down the deep State,” he said in a speech that month.
Mr Ramaswamy has previously said he would cut the Federal workforce by half within his first year in power and by three-quarters by the end of his first term.
He has also said that he would close down the FBI, the Education Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Food and Nutrition Service, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Washington,
15 November 2023
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Finland’s students facing hard times
The Social Insurance Institution of Finland is likely to collect a record amount in overdue student loan repayments this year — possibly up to three times as much as last year.
The dramatic change is the result of recent amendments to the student support system on the one hand and the inflationary and high-interest-rate environment on the other.
Chair of the National Union of University Students in Finland, Lotta Leinonen said there were already examples students using loan money for day-to-day living — food, rent and clothes — rather than to assist their studies.
“Such difficulties can undermine the ability of students to focus on their studies, resulting in fewer students graduating in time,” Ms Leinonen said.
Helsinki, 14 November 2023
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Canadian Government spends millions on lawsuit
The Canadian Government has already spent more than $C7.8 million ($A8.7 million) in opposition of a class-action lawsuit brought by Black Federal Public Servants — an amount described by one activist as “shocking and disgraceful”.
Executive Director of the non-profit Black Class Action Secretariat (BCAS), Nicholas Marcus Thompson said “it speaks volumes to the Government of Canada's approach".
The lawsuit was launched in December 2020 by the BCAS and seeks $C2.5 billion ($A2.8 billion) in compensation for workers dating back to 1970.
Earlier this year, the Treasury Board found that the Canadian Human Rights Commission, the body empowered to investigate complaints of discrimination in Federally-regulated workplaces, had racially discriminated against its own employees.
Ottawa,
13 November 2023
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Irish Minister calls for new pay talks
Ireland’s public service unions have been invited to pay talks by the Government in a bid to strike a deal on a successor to the current Building Momentum agreement, which is due to expire within weeks.
Minister for Public Expenditure, Paschal Donohoe said he believed a deal was possible but that discussions would be difficult.
“I’ve been involved now in a number of different public-sector wage agreements and my anticipation is that this will be a particularly demanding agreement to get,” Mr Donohoe said.
However, Deputy General Secretary of the Services Industrial, Professional and Technical Union, which has responsibility for the public sector, John King said the union felt the Government had not moved on in its outlook from the deals done in the immediate aftermath of the financial crash of 15 years ago.
Dublin, 16 November 2023
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Cameroon ends Public Service contracting
The Cameroonian Government’s Inter-Ministerial Committee has decided to suspend the practice of using temporary staff in public hospitals, and will now work out a formula for integrating the workers into the Public Service.
The decision followed a wave of strikes earlier in the year as the more than 27,000 temporary employees claimed they had no pathway to permanent employment, even after many years of service.
Other problems remain, however, and discontent continues to simmer over what appears to be wage theft. Flore Bissene (34) an office manager at the Yaoundé Emergency Centre, said she receives a monthly salary of 69,000 CFA francs ($A176).
“From that, the central administration deducts social security contributions every month, yet I have been told I have no social security cover — so where did my money go?” Ms Bissene asked.
Yaoundé, 14 November 2023
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