International Public Sector News

Public sector strikes continue

PARIS (December 18): French public sector industrial action continues, with police firing teargas at protesters as thousands of people took to the streets of Paris in a pension reform stand-off that has sparked more than two weeks of crippling transport strikes.

French President, Emmanuel Macron has vowed not to give into union demands to drop the overhaul, which includes raising the age of retirement with full pension from 62 to 64 and ending special privileges for some workers.

Teachers, hospital workers and other public employees joined transport workers for the third day of marches since the dispute began on December 5.

The Ministry of the Interior said about 615,000 people have taken part in more than 100 rallies countrywide, including 76,000 demonstrators in Paris.

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Departments to go in UK shake-up

LONDON (December 11): The victorious Conservative Government in the United Kingdom General Election is expected to announce plans to abolish the Department for International Development and the Department for Exiting the European Union (Brexit).

International Development will reportedly be merged with the Foreign Office, while the Brexit Department is likely to be absorbed into the Department for International Trade.

Prime Minister, Boris Johnson has on several occasions said he wants the International Development Budge to be better spent.

Mr Johnson is reported as saying that the UK “can’t keep spending huge sums of British taxpayers’ money as though we were some independent Scandinavian NGO”.

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PS ‘not ready’ for EU trade talks

LONDON (December 19): A former United Kingdom Ministerial Adviser on Europe says the Public Service is not set up to run complex trade negotiations with the European Union.

Raoul Raparel said the Government and the Public Service had a lot of work to do if they were to prepare to leave with a deal – especially given Prime Minister, Boris Johnson’s deadline of the end of 2020.

"As it stands, the UK does not yet appear ‘match-fit’ for the next phase of negotiations. There is a huge amount of work to be done to flesh out the detail of what the UK wants from its future relationship with the EU,” Mr Raparel said.

“Whitehall is not yet ready to negotiate such a complex and wide-ranging agreement, nor to implement it — but contrary to what many say, it is possible to negotiate a Free Trade Agreement with the EU by the end of next year."

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Broadcaster’s future under study

DUBLIN (December 11): The Irish Government is to set up a Commission on the Future of Irish Public Service Broadcasting as a direct response to a revised strategy by the State broadcaster, RTÉ.

It is to review the current approach and make recommendations on setting a new strategic direction for public service broadcasting at national, regional and local level.

It will bring forward proposals by September 2020.

RTÉ submitted a revised strategy which has now been considered by Government, in light of its financial difficulties.

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PS recruitment to widen

TALLINN (December 12): The Estonian Government wants to increase the proportion of other nationalities working in the public sector in order to fill yawning vacancy gaps.

A new analysis has found that a quarter of vacancies in the public sector remain unfilled. There were no shortage of applicants, but many did not have the skills required.

Minister of Public Administration, Jaak Aab said the State should now look at non-native Estonian speakers to fill the gaps.

“Vacancies should be filled with more members of the non-Estonian speaking population, such as Russian-speakers, Finns and Ukrainians, with special language courses to help these people,” Mr Aab said.

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New plan to promote Irish in PS

DUBLIN (December 12): The Irish Cabinet has signed off on a plan requiring one fifth of all new recruits to the Public Service to be competent in Irish.

The Government will introduce promotional measures in schools and colleges in a bid to attract Irish speakers to apply for Public Service jobs.

Under the Irish Languages Amendment Bill, public bodies such as the An Garda Síochána (police) and the Health Service Executive will also have to introduce measures to accommodate the Irish version of a person’s name on their computer systems.

All new public bodies will have to bear Irish language or bilingual names and logos.

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Parental leave in Defence Bill

WASHINGTON (December 13): A piece of legislation attached to the United States Defence Budget Authorisation Bill allows for a new paid parental leave program for civilian Federal employees.

Lawmakers, employee unions and other organisations have hailed the 12 weeks of paid parental leave with one of its sponsors, Democrat Don Beyer, calling it “one of the biggest victories for the Federal workforce in my lifetime”.

The Bill includes two new safeguards designed to protect Federal employees and their health, dental, vision and life insurance benefits during the any Government shutdown.

Attaching apparently unrelated provisions to a key must-pass Bill such as authorisations for Defence spending is a regular device used by lawmakers to ensure measures get into law which might otherwise be resisted on their own.

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Months of turmoil affects morale

WASHINGTON (December 18): The turmoil of reorganisations, relocations and mergers has had a noticeable impact on employee engagement and morale in parts of the United States Public Service during 2019.

Analysis by the Partnership for Public Service (PPS) and Boston Consulting Group shows that overall, employee engagement across Government sat at 61.7 points out of 100, dipping just slightly by 0.5 points in 2019.

The PPS said the latest results were a surprising show of resiliency among Agencies during a tumultuous year.

“However, in many instances where there has been significant reform or change there have been significant drops,” the PPS said,  citing the Corporation for National and Community Service,  which took a 27-point nosedive for a score of 39.3.

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Cayman measures to combat fraud

GEORGE TOWN (December 13): Two Cayman Islands Ministries have worked together to organise fraud prevention and detection training sessions for more than 100 Public Servants.

The training sessions are designed to increase the capabilities within the Ministry of Employment and Border Control and The Ministry of Commerce, Planning and Infrastructure to detect, prevent and manage potential situations of fraud and corruption.

Participants at the sessions included managers, heads of Departments and staff involved in the areas of accounting, procurement and asset management.

The course is offered to Public Servants every five years.

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Saudi data revolution spreads

RIYADH (December 14): The Saudi Arabian Ministry of Civil Service has linked with the central databases of 90 Government Agencies representing more than 86 per cent of public sector employees.

The database connection was secured after the Agencies completed the requirements for sending human resources data through the Government integration channel according to the classification of groups specified by the Ministry.

The Ministry, represented by its Digital Transformation Agency, provides more than 27 electronic services on its website, serving Government Agencies and public sector employees.

The move follows an order from King Salman for Agencies to complete electronic connectivity with the Ministry of Civil Service within 120 days.

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Minister promises ‘painless’ downsize

KUALA LUMPUR (December 14): The Deputy Minister in the Malaysian Prime Minister's Department has announced plans to gradually downsize the Public Service by five per cent by 2021.

In reply to a question in Parliament, Mohamed Hanipa Maidin said the reduction could be achieved by natural attrition “without affecting service delivery and source of income of the relevant offices".

Malaysia has one of the largest Public Services in the world in relation to its population with one Public Servant for every 19.37 people.

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Police benefit from protests

HONG KONG (December 14): Police officers in Hong Kong have received a total of around HK$950 million ($A177 million) in overtime pay from June to November — the time when the Special Administrative Region was rocked by waves of protests.

Figures released by the Legislative Council show that on average each officer has been paid HK$86,363 extra ($A16,105) since the start of mass protests.

The disclosure came as pro-democracy lawmakers attempted to block a Government-proposed pay rise for law enforcement.

Earlier this year Chief Executive Carrie Lam announced pay rises of 4.75 per cent for senior Public Servants and 5.26 per cent to those in lower and middle salary bands.

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Row over lawman’s appointment

JERUSALEM (December 17): Israel’s Minister for Justice and the Country’s Civil Service Commissioner have clashed over the appointment of an acting State Attorney.

The Minister, Amir Ohana rejected a demand from Commissioner, Daniel Hershkowitz that he be consulted over the appointment. Mr Ohana said he would press on with the posting regardless.

He said the matter had already been discussed with Mr Hershkowitz several times.

“The obligation under law to consult with the commissioner was fulfilled, and when deciding from among the candidates, none of them will be a stranger to him,” Mr Ohana said.

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Protestants wanted in PS

BELFAST (December 11): The Northern Ireland Public Service is encouraging Protestants and men to apply for 300 vacancies.

These groups are currently under-represented in the Public Service as are young people under the age of 35, people with a disability and people from minority ethnic communities.

While the Public Service said applications from these groups would be particularly welcome, it stressed that all applications would be considered strictly on merit.

The full Public Service News service will resume in the New Year