Public servants warned

THE unions are not going to improve terms and conditions of employment in order to reward slackness and corruption in the public service, the PNG Trade Union Congress (PNGTUC) and the Public Employees Association (PEA) said on Sunday.
PNGTUC general-secretary John Paska and PEA president Michael Malabag issued a strongly-worded statement, claiming complaints about inefficiency of the public service had circulated for some time.
“For the most part, the slackness of the public service has been blamed on the lack of incentives, low morale as a result of corruption at the leadership levels and insufficient funds to implement programmes.
“Every two years the PEA secures wage increases for public servants. We do this not out of altruism, but
to provide an incentive for improved productivity as well as to provide a buffer against cost of living increases.”
Mr Malabag said many public servants took this for granted and they “drag their carcasses around” and were rewarded.
“We want to make it clear that we do not and will not tolerate slackness.
“If public servants consider that they are being denied justice, they should realise that their inefficiency and corrupt behaviour contributes directly to the denial of services, and, therefore, the denial of justice to the rural majority.
“The union movement does not condone this and it will not tolerate slackness, inefficiency, corruption and abuse of office and public trust.”
He said the unions, among others, proposed:
* Disciplinary codes to penalise workers for inefficiency, corruption and other excesses be tightened;
* Public servants be made more accountable for their actions/inactions;
* Termination/suspension clauses must be reviewed to make it easier to discipline or terminate staff that do not perform and commit serious breaches,
* Contracts for senior public servants should be cancelled with no possibility of
renewal for non-performance. Employees affected by this shall
fall back to ordinary public service terms
and conditions of employment unless they commit serious offences that warrant termination;
* With performance indicators, every departmentmust set targets
to achieve each quarter/year and failure to achieve targets should warrant the immediate removal
of the person in charge;
* The performance of statutory organisations must be closely monitored and scrutinised as this group
tends to fall of the radar; and
* The Chief Secretary must be given
more powers to make secretaries more accountable.
Mr Malabag said it was vital that incisive structural changes were made to position the public service, statutory organisations and agencies in a state of readiness to realise the aims and objectives of Vision 2050.