…has obtained documents through Freedom of Information legislation revealing Saskatchewan government employees take 23 per cent more sick days than the national average for all workers.
In 2005-06, absenteeism in government departments cost taxpayers an estimated $20 million in lost productivity. The survey also found absenteeism cost crown corporations another $14 million.
Documents obtained by the CTF also show the province’s Public Service Commission (PSC) has not implemented a strategy for reducing absenteeism. The CTF is calling on the government to bring in an action plan to reduce absenteeism to below the national average (7.8 sick days per year, per employee) by 2010.
Here’s an “action plan”, and I’ll let the Saskatchewan government have it for free – get out the list titled “approved medical conditions” and with a big black marker, draw a line through the words “stress leave”.
Be sure to bookmark the Taxpayers Federation Blog – it’s always a good source for government spending information guaranteed to make you sick to your stomach.
Related
Charles Sibindana, 27, stole a certificate from a clinic during his pregnant girlfriend’s checkup, a court near Johannesburg heard.
He then added his own details to the note and submitted it and took seven days off work, seemingly unaware that only women consult gynaecologists.
His employers became suspicious and investigated the matter.
Where is the bearded white gentleman when he’s needed most? For the sake of her child, lets pray it isn’t his.
Iberia: Your statement “It does not cost anything because it is already budgeted for.” was brilliant. Thank you for helping me see the error in my thinking.
I put your logic into practise – today is the end of the month and I had budgeted $100.00 this month for car maintenance. As I had not used this $100.00 for the car I just went out and slashed my own tire ($100.00 repair cost)because it was in the budget so it didn’t cost me anything.
You are a genius – will you please take over the management of my retirement fund.
I await your next pearl of wisdom
alan:
Gordon Campbell tore up the HEU collective agreement in 2003. The collective agreement for 2001-2004 is still posted.
http://www.lrb.bc.ca/cas/WBR2.pdf
20 years service provides for 36 vacation days, which does not equal 12 weeks.
mrtisaduffer:
Obviously you have a reading/learning disability. This money is already accounted for. It was negotiated. If the employer wants to get rid of sick days they can always pay a higher hourly rate. Same difference.
You must be the learning disabled one Iberia as all I did is agree with you and put into practise what you said.
When doing your personal budget do you ever pay less on an item than you planned for? Has your welfare cheque ever been more than planned? Does it make more sense to you to burn the excess cash in this case than to invest it elsewhere?
Please re-insert your head firmly between your butt cheeks where is has obviously been for the last 20 years so we don’t have to read your drivel.
Yes mrtisaduffer, you sarcastically agreed with me, then with your immense intellect you used a flawed analogy to prove yourself correct. Obviously, it’s you who has never bothered to remove your head from between your butt cheeks, since it appears you have a greatly altered sense of reality.
Because you like analogies some much, I’ll provide you with a more realistic one: if you pay for an all-you-can-eat meal, you don’t get money back if you only have the appetizer. It costs you the same whether you have a little or a lot to eat…it’s covered.
Just like it doesn’t cost any more to use sick days or not – it’s part of the wage and benefit package…it’s covered.
I only have one thing to say to Iberia’s latest comment. He is totally unaware of the depts of his own ignorance.
Sorry that was supposed to read ” He is totally unaware of the depths of his own ignorance.”
” He is totally unaware of the depths of his own ignorance.”
Posted by: ruralroots
Please elaborate. I think that I’m much more familiar with this topic than most of the cry babies posting here. You, for example. You are the one who retired 13 years early because apparently you were stressed out by your workplace. Why didn’t you take a sick day once in a while? Too proud? Did you think the place would stop running without you there? That’s what those sick days are for…physical (and sometimes mental) healing. You didn’t take advantage of something that could have benefitted you, so it’s your fault that you’re not working, not the system’s.
BTW, if the government (or any employer) thought that they could save money by paying higher wages in lieu of sick days, don’t you think that they would do it? Sick days are a NEGOTIATED benefit…employers are not forced to provide it.
lberia “…could save money by paying higher wages in lieu of sick days….”
How does increasing everyones hourly rate save the company money when not every union member is a sick leave scammer like yourself?
IIberia again shows his total lack of understanding of any functional workplace. I retired early because I got fed up with the daily chaos created by the sick time abusers. Taking sick times myself would have only added to the chaos. My workplace was one that actually impacted on peoples lives. When this sick time abusers called in sick it meant canceling procedures on children whose families often waited months for. This added to their
anxiety not to mention that in our modern society with both parents working changing plans at the last minute is a major inconvenience to these families. This translated into a sharply increased workload for the reliable employees because there were always some procedures that could not be cancelled. This translated into almost perpetual 10 hour days with no lunch breaks . This is not what I signed on for and choose to leave. I knew this would eventually have a negative effect on my personal well being.
I was never a martyr as Iberia implied. I was rarely ill. I understand the concept of personal responsibility for my own health. Don’t smoke, get enough sleep, eat a good diet and exercise. these are all simple concepts that even Iberia could understand.
As a person of principle I refuse to become one of those abusers to survive in this dysfunctional union system. The great thing for me is that because of my work ethic and expertise my workplace continues to employ me from home as a casual employee. This was possible because of the respect I earned from the department manager and the Medical director. My employer is a major facility that does not hand out access to it’s secure network easily.
So the moral to this story is that sometimes if you stick to your guns good thing happen.
As for the depths of your ignorance Iberia your thoughts that sick leave doesn’t cost the system anything is ridiculous beyod belief but I will site one example for that teenie little brain.
If a nurse calls in sick the chances are high(due to the incredible mismanagement of this current Dipper administration from the ground up) the nurse who comes into replace that sick person has probably worked their 37.5 hours and will be paid overtime for the entire shift. At an average wage of $30.00/hour for a 12 hour shift at double time this cost the taxpayers an extra $720.00 plus any extra CPP, EI and pension contributions trigger by this overtime or straight time. If one individual uses 10 sick days and triggers this type of scenario this translates into an extra $7000 to $8000. If they use all their allotted sick day this is doubled.
There are also hidden costs. Due to the tight staffing situation many areas find themselves in if a person calls in sick and a replacement cannot be found even at double time this translates into bed closures which sometimes triggers cancellation of surgical procedure which translates into longer hospital admissions at a higher cost.
Is that simple enough for you?
I know I shouldn’t feed the troll but I can’t help myself.
rural roots:
I think Iberia is trying to say that when sick days were first granted in his contract they took a cut in pay in lieu of extra benefits,{can’t recall that hapenning},
This would mean that the next contract will be another reversal in salaries because of the new family day.
I assume on “family day” all services including retail will be closed so everyone can spend time with their family. That way it wouldn’t cost anything for the holiday. Maybe everyday should be a holiday it won’t cost anybody anything.
Sakatchewan already has the second lowest GDP per
capita in the 60 US states and Canadian provinces and that includes those lowly farmers that overproduce and destroy their own market prices