Myanmar bureaucrats defiant

While the territory held by Myanmar’s Military Government is shrinking, Public Servants still subject to the junta say they are in an increasingly dire situation.

Eighteen months have passed since the military seized power in a coup on 1 February 2021. In the days following, hundreds of thousands of doctors, nurses, teachers, engineers and other Government staff walked out on strike as part of the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM).

However, their resistance has come at a devastating personal cost. With no pay, no jobs and constant harassment from the military, CDM workers are struggling to survive.

They gave first-hand accounts of their worsening plight during an online meeting organised by Public Services International.

One Yangon hospital administrator said she had nothing to eat and nowhere to stay, “but I will never regret joining the CDM and will continue this revolution until we succeed".

Despite the risks she, along with other CDM participants, banged pots and pans in nightly protests on the streets, but with no income, she has been forced to sell belongings to feed her family.

The military junta has systematically targeted the healthcare sector in its crackdown against the CDM after hundreds of medics across Yangon and Mandalay joined the opposition movement.

Some 30 medical professionals were arrested in October and November, a nurse has been reported killed and three private Mandalay hospitals have had their licences revoked, leaving 800 staff jobless and patients without care.

The junta has further crippled the healthcare system by revoking the medical licences of 557 doctors participating in the CDM, exacerbating the pre-existing shortages in public healthcare since the coup.

Other workers said they had been kicked out of Government housing and refused pay rises in private jobs due to their CDM status.

Many have fled to rural areas, only to face threats from military informers in their new communities.

Those still in urban centres cannot move around freely, with international travel being a distant dream. The military has their National Identification Numbers and is using these to restrict their freedom of movement.

Yangon, 17 November 2023

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Korean computers fail again

The South Korean Government is facing a storm of criticism over another Public Service system failure that crippled computer networks, causing massive disruptions to bureaucracies across the country.

The Saeol Administrative Network, used by Public Servants to access Government-approved documents, became inaccessible on the morning of 17 November. Later that day, the Government's online portal, Government24, also went down.

It was two days before the Ministry of the Interior and Safety stated that both systems were restored, noting the failure could have been caused by some network equipment that was replaced recently.

This is the third time this year that Government computer networks have crashed: In March the judicial courts system shut down at the same time as the Supreme Court's Internet Registry Office; in June, an error occurred in the National Education Administrative Information System for elementary, middle and high schools.

Seoul, 21 November 2023

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UK anger over overseas remote work

United Kingdom Public Servants at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero are among those who can now apply to work overseas for a maximum of two weeks a year while visiting friends and family.

The senior Public Servants’ union, FDA, has repeatedly argued that many of its members have connections outside the UK and should be eligible for international remote working for the benefit of their family life.

The decision came after managers called for staff to be allowed to work overseas for personal reasons rather than having to take annual leave.

Former Conservative Party leader and prominent spokesperson for the right of the party, Sir Iain Duncan Smith, described the move as “absolutely stark raving bonkers…if the Civil Service chiefs think that is sensible, then we need a complete clear-out”.

London 20 November, 2023

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Nigerian officers want end to promotion exam

Senior Nigerian Public Servants are demanding that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu cancel the recent promotion examination for Directors.

It follows the results that show just 20 Directors out of 85 initially invited to sit for promotion examinations to the rank of Permanent Secretary had passed the exercise.

One of the Directors, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of victimisation, alleged that invaluable experience garnered over the decades was not taken into consideration.

“Apart from gender imbalance in this so-called examination that denied adequate female representation, there are other controversies that are now coming to light,” the official said.

Abuja, 20 November 2023

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Ireland’s last emergency laws may go

Ireland’s Minister for Public Expenditure, Paschal Donohoe says he is willing to engage with unions on their concerns over remaining emergency legislation from the financial crash of 15 years ago.

The Minister’s comments came after the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) wrote to the Government outlining its concerns.

Mr Donohoe said the ICTU had raised a number of issues about the remaining pieces of Fempi legislation “and I’m willing to engage in that as part of the normal process that we have with regard to the future of public pay”.

Fempi refers to the Financial Emergencies Measures in the Public Interest Act 2009, put in place following the 2008 financial crash. 

Dublin, 20 November 2023

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Namibia PS pay rise ‘affordable’

Namibia’s Cabinet Secretary, George Simataa said that following the successful end of pay and benefits talks with unions representing the country’s 107 000 Public Servants, the Government’s wage bill is expected to increase by $N1.7 billion ($A14 million) in the 2024-25 financial year.

Agreement had been reached on a flat increase of $N600 ($A47.72) per month for senior staff members on pay grades 15 and 14, while those below would receive a five per cent boost.

Mr Simataa said he had been assured by the Ministry of Finance and Public Enterprises that the sum was affordable.

“The figure is not outside the Budget, these are approved expenditures of the Government,” Mr Simataa said.

Windhoek, 20 November 2023