Comments by Daniel Sweeney

Daniel Sweeney
Member - 26 posts

Its funny reading these posts how similar many peoples experiences are of working in Local Authorities. I was in the same boat over here in Northern Ireland at one stage, where Tammany Hall and Pork Barrel politics are the norm in these organisations.
Add in a healthy dose of sectarianism and bigotry with Counsellors being a little too close to the local terrorists (both republican and loyalist depending on the area), and your life can be really .....interesting. I think the abiding lesson here is that LA is prone to a bullying culture, Both by senior officers and counsellors (the latter often installing the former on the basis of patronage). Very often the local political types confuse a party mandate with a personal licence to misbehave.
A clear code of practice that is binding and that has clear sanctions, may go some way to addressing the problem but there will always be nastly little people in the game. Bearin mind Plato's maxim and dont give power to people who want it. Invariably they dont want it for your benefit!

Daniel Sweeney
Member - 26 posts

Three calming little words Nigel. Vallium, Mogadon and Librium.
Mind you we probably get some 'knock off' alternative version under the NLP version of the National Health Service.

Daniel Sweeney
Member - 26 posts

Quite right Janet.The requirement for a degree is not discriminatory per se, but employers often put in selection criteria such as 'recent graduate' or 'with no more than 'n ' years PQ experience, or alternatively specify unnecessary minimum number of years experience . This can be construed as being indirectly discriminatory.
Its interesting the responses one receives from academic staff as a mature student though ranging from very welcoming (If you have taught in HE you'll know the difference between bored teenager and motivated older student who has actually sacraficed something to be there) to threatened.
I did my UG and PG full time but I never could understand why employers see the OU and part time degree options in a less favourable light. People pursuing these are usually balancing work, family and study so more power to them I say!

Daniel Sweeney
Member - 26 posts

Has anyone considered speaking to the stewardess to see if there is an underlying problem, or health issue? Could she be on a prescription medication? Is this a recent development,or has her behaviour been noticeably changing over a period of time? If erratic behaviour is a sign of drug or alcohol abuse then quite a few members of the Commons would be giving samples to inspector Knacker.
'We all know' is roughly analagous to 'we all presuppose' and I would suggest following up on Dave's suggestion re policy development, before inviting the litigation sharks to dinner .
Good luck with an extremely tricky situation.

Daniel Sweeney
Member - 26 posts

Imagine a parent taking time off to look after a sick child. Whatever next?They'll be asking for annual leave and expecting sick pay next. I was touched by the chick welfare issues though!
This is the Monty Python sketch about the mill owners being paid for priviledge of being able to work there isnt it? Please tell me this is a comedy posting.

Happy Monday everyone!

Daniel Sweeney
Member - 26 posts

Must agree with Kuang Lim. Yes, it does defeat the intent of removing age discrimination. As to whether or not that was the aim of the regulations is another matter. One gets the feeling that someone dropped the ball and these were pushed through in a hurry to meet the compliance deadline. If we had signed up to a general prohibition on unjustified discrimination then this scenario wouldnt have occurred.

We will continue to have these problems when Governments use the European Communities Act regulation making powers to impliment Directives, rather than introducing primary legilslation and allowing full debate in the chamber.

Daniel Sweeney
Member - 26 posts

Presumably St Paticks day will now be a national holiday throughout the uk, all staff canteens will not be allowed to serve meat on Fridays, and no meetings will be held past sun down on a friday. But then again, the Irish, the catholics and the jews (or most other religious groups excepting fundamentalist christians) dont generally insist on imposing their world views on others. They may have a view and a strong one at that, on how society should behave but most ethnic and religious minorities dont seek to dominate a host society. With this growth in post modernity and the globalisation of acceptance of difference, I look forward to the time when regimental chaplains can wear religious insignia in Saudi Arabiua, the next time we are preventing their neighbours from invading them, and popping down to the pub in Riyadh for a pint.
This sort of nonsense creates fear and hostility and fuels the idiots of the far right.

Daniel Sweeney
Member - 26 posts

Glenn, I'm not at all sure if its the comments on the state of hospials or the process of contracting out that has inspired you to draw this out ad nauseam. This reminds me of my time attempting to teach law students that justice and law were not actually synonomous. My final observation on the matter is to refer you to the reports of the healthcare commission which is neither a print nor broadcast medium. .

Daniel Sweeney
Member - 26 posts

Whoops Glenn, I appear to have hit a raw nerve there!
The key to my previous posting was 'per se'. Scrubs contaminated with Staff A (C Diff etc) are likely to act as disease vectors from patient to patient unless changed. Similarly a t-shirt etc etc. Is there a substantive difference between a clean t- shirt (bare below the elbows again!) and a set of scrubs? (green or blue) . I would suggest that its the level of exposure to contaminants/biological or otherwise on the garment that is significant in contact disease tranfer from patient A to B, not the colour or logo on the garment. I dont believe that pathogens show the same level of deference to the trade as some people do, and may piggyback on the 'medical uniform' opportunistically.

The Healthcare Commission has conducted research on the levels of cleanliness in hospitals in England and Wales and has expressed its concerns over information and standards and similar work in Northern Ireland has indicated problems. For example the two main sources of information on this are based on patient perception surveys and self reporting by trusts if I'm not mistaken. Patient environment action teams (PEAT) were managed by NHS estates until relatively recently and oddly enough considered that NHS estates were doing a splendid job. Patient surveys however idicated that there were significant concerns about declining standards.
Methodologically both are questionable as assessment methods
The existing sources of information on cleanliness are contradictory, but the increased prevalence in hospital acquired infections would, I believe, allow an inference to be drawn on the subject. You could be right and there may be no problem with hospital cleanliness, but as one of my colleagues found out in Sweden, the best way into an isolation ward in a Stockholm hospital is to admit you were treated in a UK hospital within the last 6 months. . Lets be honest here, its about identification, status and corporacy which may indeed be legitimate aims, but please dont mask these objectives under clinincal need for uniformity.

Finally I'm not a professional epidemiologist or infection control nurse, rather a Policy Analyst, and one of the main disadvantages of my discipline is that we try to use logic and evidence rather than professional orthodoxy. Its kind of like science without the self ascriptive status!

Daniel Sweeney
Member - 26 posts

Sorry Glenn, but a uniform per se doesn't necessarily contribute to infection control. Nor does a medic wearing a tie or white coat, in fact very often these status symbols (uniforms?) become disease vectors, transferring patient A's nasties to patient B through fabric to skin contact. Disposable paper gowns/gloves and good general hygene are reasonably useful given the filthy state of our hospitals post contracting out of domestic services. I believe the more intelligent members of the medical trade are in favour of banning these affectations. How much success they have is debatable given the lack of impact of the move by barristers to abandon fancy dress in an attempt to humanise the judicial system.
In general though you are right about the lack of common sense, and some managers do seem to believe that adherence to policy absolves them from the responsibility to actually think!

Daniel Sweeney
Member - 26 posts

I have to agree with Craig.
A local authority in NI was coming fairly low on the 'league table' for attendance/days lost and the local govt auditors report was causing the usual moral panic among the 'angry of North Down' letter writing types (Insert Surbiton instead of North Down for clarity if unfamiliar with social/economic geography of NI!)
The Council brought in an 'attendance management policy' with the usual counting of periods of absence to trigger various mechanisms that were effectively punitive and did nothing to address the underlying causes of absence. The result was that people actually took more time off, ie a week instead of a day, as both would count as a single period of absence. improved their position no end as they moved to 2nd or 3rd place in the worst attendance record 'charts'.
I think that we need to look at our behaviours as managers and examine the way we relate to staff to see if this is causing stress and increased absence. The problem, very often, is ours as a management issue, not the staff members behaviour. Of course you will get people suffering from 'Plumbum Pendulum' but thats what a disciplinary policy is for.

Daniel Sweeney
Member - 26 posts

I honestly had to check my callendar as I thought it was April 1st.
Its not the substantive question of appropriate /safe footwear, which is a serious H&S issue, but the assertion that employers would insist on employees (presumably female ) wearing high heels! As a manager I wouldnt dream of commenting on my male staffs footwear as long as its fit for purpose, but this hang up about 'women in heels' has nothing to do with function, rather form. If my female staff want to wear heels, fine, flats fine, etc. The only issue would be around where their footwear was potentially dangerous to themselves or others.
Is this the sort of thing that happens when you merge the EOC and CRE? . Where are all the employment lawyers?

Daniel Sweeney
Member - 26 posts

Sorry Alex,
My misconception. Some friends in Holland thought it would be hillarious trying to enforce it as a tobacco ban given the coffee shop culture thats prevalent over there.
Its funny though, the last time I was over in Scotland at a meeting with some people from the Scottish Executive I was thanked rather tongue in cheek for 'Irelands major contribution to Scottish Culture.....the smoking ban!' as I and a Scottish colleague huddled in an archway in Edinburgh having a crafty smoke during a break.
I have to say though that I wouldnt consider smoking in work when I was a smoker purely through consideration for others and the legislation was irrelevant to my decision to stop. Oddly enough as a pig headed Ulsterman legislation and regulation are pretty good ways to get me to do quite the reverse!

Have a good weekend and I hope the weather stays fine for all you smokers outside licenced premises. Remember its not the smoking that gets you in the end, rather the things you catch from standing outside the pub in the cold and rain having a smoke!

Daniel Sweeney
Member - 26 posts

Could he claim that he was smoking cannabis and get a police caution for a cat c posession and avoid the fine altogether? I think the ban applies only to tobacco products. Another classical case of policy being made by people who have never come to grips with lateral thinking and react with knee jerk responses. Perhaps they didnt inhale when younger!

Daniel Sweeney
Member - 26 posts

Hi Bozena.
We have a womens organisation over here in NI called Women's Aid which I believe was originally set up to deal with Women who were victims of domestic violence. The Sex Discrimination Order (NI) and presumably the related GB Act have a clause which would allow for such a scenario.(possibly under GOR)
The legislation is, however, symmetrical which is a point that is often overlooked by both female and male sexists.
Cheers
Dan

Daniel Sweeney
Member - 26 posts

Interesting that this could cost businesses an extra £88m per year. Would I be correct in assuming that this would be businesses that pay the basic bare NMW rate or to put it more bluntly, rely on low wage production to maximise profits? Quite frankly given the highly public scandal of tips being used to subsidise below NMW wage rates in the catering/service sector, my sympathies are in the dictionary (directions on request!)
In any event the proportionality/justification of the NMW differentials has not been challenged on its compliance with the framework directive as most effort seems to have gone into the Heyday challenge.
I think the bottom line may be that the age differentiated rate may be justified if it applied to young people who had difficulty accessing teh labour market. As a blanket exception/variance it is most clearly not a proportionate way of achieveing a legitimate labour market objective.

Daniel Sweeney
Member - 26 posts

Re Tim Parnells observation. I quite agree with him on the people attempting to scratch a living in the Niger Delta. They are mostly the Ogoni I believe and the people I was referring to were the Government of Nigeria and of those countries that see national wealth as a personal bank account for themselves and their families. THe fluctuations in oil prices on the global market and the enormous wealth generated rarely goes beyond the presidential/Royal coterie, so if my remarks were deemed offensive to those who actually work in the industries, rather than those who exploit those workers then I have been misunderstood.
There is a very low rate of duty payable on vegetable oil as a road traffic fuel and I believe there is a sliding scale dependant on the mileage, but this was covered in a 5th gear report a couple of years ago. If you want an interesting , at times amusing but not necessarily informative conversation with a civil servant, contact your local HMCR office and ask about this.
In relation to the focus blowing its engine, I think thats a Ford thing, but as Landies tend to be engineered in the school of the 'anywhere in the right field bombardier', it not really a concern. Anyone using veggie oil or recycled chip oil (not lard) could always get a commission from your local butchers for generating business with the barbecue smell!

Daniel Sweeney
Member - 26 posts

I buy my 'deisel' from the local Chinese supermarket in 25 ltre drums. Its renewable , extracts more carbon from the atmosphere when being produced than when burned, its sulphur free, doesnt contribute to shopping sprees by despots in Harrods and costs about 30p per litre. Thats less than the tax take on each litre of mineral deisel.
With oil companies posting record profits its not all that suprising that the team wants to see some love being spread around. I for one wont contribute to the OIl companies, HMGs revenue rip off, or the megalomania of sundry members of foreign minor powers with control over natural resources and their ilk.
Does my use of renewable energy offset the fact that I drive a landrover and live in the country?

Daniel Sweeney
Member - 26 posts

Its a funny old world when an organisation can get away with creating a 'dignity in the workplace' policy that draws a difference between Bullying and harassment . The difference apparently being that harassment is linked to a statutorily protected discrimination ground, whereas bullying is not. Unfortunately the outworking of this is that complaining of harassment gets an organisation all hot and bothered as it thinks, IT1 (or in Northern Ireland FET1 on occasions), whereas bullying is seen as naughty children in the playground. Its time that this semantic fiction was dropped and the 96 ERA incorporated a proper harassment definition that would encompass bullying. On a cheerier note hitting an employer with a personal injury claim through a no win no fee shark may start to get their attention! Duty of care for employees and all .
I cant help but wonder why anyone would think of local authorities as being models of good practice. Perhaps I'm prejudiced but having worked in local Govt in NI in relation to Policing, the whole lot would benefit from a good forensic audit by the SFO or its successor.