Saturday, December 17, 2005
Stressed
Council workers "stressed"
It seems that the problems of dealing with a multi-million pound overspend and a restructuring of the Council budget is, according to Unison's Merv Butler, leading to increasing stress levels and adding to the risk of rising sickness levels amongst Town Hall workers.
Mr. Butler seems to suggest that many cannot cope with an increased workload caused by a moratorium on Council recruitment, he ought to have tried representing staff in the private retail sector where wage costs have been hammered into the ground as retail prices have fallen. It is not unusual to find large outlets operating with only 50% of the staffing levels they had ten years ago. Multi-skilling is the new "buzz" word, and longer hours are the norm rather than the exception. Similarly the number of full time positions has been rapidly reduced to less than 40% of the workforce, the rest being part-time staff who have to learn quickly with the ever faithful "deep end" theory.
Stress of course can be useful and good for you! For some target achievers a certain level of stress is required to produce the adrenalin that will drive them on towards their goals. For some others, stress can be a killer, epecially if the individual is already a sufferer of heart disease. My motto has always been "control the stress, before the stress controls you."
So it would be helpful if Unison could remind it's members to seek help from others when the stress becomes too much to bear, or to provide informational services to help it's members learn relaxation techniques and other stress busting methods. It's no good complaining of (or subliminally encouraging) increased sickness levels, people should get to see a nurse, counsellor, or doctor before the stress even reaches those levels.
The Council cannot afford extra sickness at a time when there will be constraints on the budget, each and every man/woman must be seen to be doing their duty. Sickness makes your friends work harder!
If Unison, or any of the other unions, wish to be concerned at stress levels, then perhaps they ought to target their worries towards the poor Council Tax payers who will pick up the tab for the irresponsible, hapless, stressed out pen pushers who signed all of the blank cheques over the past couple of years. In fact, we as tax payers ought to STRESS that these individuals should be demoted or otherwise removed from their posts for failing in their duties to monitor and control the spending of OUR money!
About Me
Curly Born in 1956
Sanddancer
Sunderland fan
Male
Retailer
Former Borough Councillor
View my Profile
Contact
Email Curly
south-shields AT
blueyonder DOT co DOT uk
Got a story?
Got a tip off?
Got some scandal?
Let me know!
07941386870
Search
Search this site
Comments
How do I make a comment on this blog?
Links
Curly's Corner Shop website
Curly's Photoshop
My Message Board
Shields photo gallery
RTG Message Board
Sunderland AFC Blog
Site Feed
Blogroll Me!
Past
December 2004 January 2005 February 2005 March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007