Public solidarity with the strikers - But why?

Civil Servants "strike" Liberation Square, St Helier, Jersey  7 December 2018


There is no doubt that many States’ civil servants and public employees have been treated very badly.

That they have been left behind and neglected so far as wages and conditions of employment are concerned is evident.

On that basis they deserve general public support and they have been forced into a strike by a particularly uncaring management otherwise known as “our government.”

To rub salt into their wounds, the recently appointed CEO Charlie Parker has proudly announced that’s “It’s my way or the highway” and proposes to reduce the workforce by many hundreds as the continuation of a policy that has been in place for some years already.

 

BUT not all civil servants are angels.

Bullying and harassment has been a feature within many States departments for years and Charlie’s micromanaging “do as I say” ultimatum might seem to be ideally suited to that.

As I write this, Deputy Mike Higgins is speaking on the radio about the many senior managers in the civil service who have been devious, unduly authoritative, even lying in court and how some have been “defaming the public.” He claims to speak on the basis of personal knowledge

 

Only this week the Jersey Complaints Board has published its findings re Mr. B. Huda and the “unjust, oppressive or improperly discriminatory” treatment that he received at the hands of Health and Social Services staff.

 

His case is not unique.

 

Mr Barrette’s timber windows saga with “bullying Planning Officers” was deemed to be “oppressive and improperly discriminatory” too by a Complaints Board and he has received no compensation.

 

The Royal Court has also this week decided the amount of damages to be paid re “Family X” – one of the largest personal injury claims in British legal history - where the children were subjected to a catalogue of abuse in their home “years after it should have been obvious that they needed to be removed.”

 

Yet, this case needs to be considered in the context of the “Jersey Independent Care Inquiry” which reported 18 months ago on decades of abuse of hundreds children in care and the criminal, negligent, inadequate or otherwise defective behaviour of far too many adults employed, supposedly, in positions of trust to safeguard them.

 

When civil servants are being abusive or bullying in the workplace to each other that is bad enough and it has been researched and reported upon in the “HR Lounge Report” published (in secret initially) this year. This Report says that employees have been left “feeling like lepers about making allegations or complaints” and how “there is a culture of fear” and also of too much “gossiping.”

 

But what of the treatment of the general public who have to deal with these civil servants?

If bullying is so commonplace in schools, for example, how might bullied children or their parents expect to be treated if they complain?

Or, how might claimants at the Social Security department be enabled to ensure that they are treated fairly and with consistency and shall staff ever “blow the whistle” on their own colleagues whose behaviour towards the general public is not appropriate?

 

If civil servants are not prepared to blow the whistle to protect each other – what chance that they might take any action in support of a member of the public?

 

The establishment of a “whistle-blower hotline” has been proposed for the use of bullied or abused staff in their workplaces, but it does not seem to be intended to protect the public too or even to be accessible to them.

 

Of course, some staff are abused by the public but the proliferation of “our staff are entitled to respect” notices are themselves often intimidating and hardly likely to encourage a friendly dialogue when differences of opinion or lack of understanding feature.

 

I could list many instances of failings in the services provided by civil servants and the antagonisms that arise with the public. Some have reached the “official complaints” stage as already referred to and have been found to be valid.

Some complaints are not valid.

 

Civil servants often claim to provide an excellent service in difficult circumstances which may  be true – but it s not always so.

There is reluctance in the service to be supportive of the public. When things go wrong the public employees invariably defend “the system” and their colleagues.

 

This current “strike” by civil servants is seen as justified by many members of the general public.

But that support needs to be reciprocal.

Civil servants and other public employees must be encouraged to promote the rights and best interests of the public as well as their own.

 

Oppressive management or government is a common enemy and needs to be recognized for what it is.