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Human resources managers' group the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has warned the government to improve employee engagement to avoid mass strike action later this year. Or, if that fails, ban strikes in essential services.
The CIPD says public sector union plans for co-ordinated strike against the Con Dem government's "swingeing cuts to public services" could be avoided if public sector bosses were better at managing staff. Are public sector bosses really worse than in the private sector?
They probably are, yes. That appears to be the conclusion of the CIPD. It says the government should consider:
Banning strike action by workers involved in the essential services
Make arbitration compulsory prior to industrial action in the public sector
Change union balloting requirements so that ballots should be counted separately for each employer.
Once you start asking for different rules, you are admitting defeat, as the CIPD admits. And trade unions already have much tougher rules than any other membership organisation – including employer bodies such as the CIPD.
Poor management
Evidence of the poor management in the public sector comes from the CIPD too. Its survey results found that just 16% of public sector employees say they trust their senior leaders.
That will come as no surprise to anyone who has had anything to do with senior people in councils and hospitals across the country. Yes there are some great people in many of these organisations but there is a lot of dross too.
There is an excellent argument for the public sector employing people who cannot get work in the private sector – it is better for the economy than having them on the dole. But there is no need to promote these idiots.
Equal opportunities
The public sector's interpretation of "equal opportunities" goes well beyond that practised in the private sector and leads to the wrong recruitment and selection choices.
And it is these idiots and their poor handling of staff - and their vastly different pay from the workers they manage – who will provoke the public sector strikes.
Workers don't want to strike
The CIPD survey also found public sector workers are not hungry for strike action. Ask if people today are not willing to lose pay by going on strike and 54% of public sector staff agree compared to 47% in the private sector. That makes private sector worker more militant.
The CIPD also reported that more than four in ten employees are in favour of banning public sector workers involved in the delivery of essential services from striking. If a trade union had a four in ten ballot result it would be prevented from striking, yet the CIPD mentions this nonsense idea regardless.
Trust
Mike Emmott, CIPD employee relations adviser, said: "Trade unions have the power to disrupt only if employees trust them more than they trust management. The fundamental need is not to 'manage the trade unions' it is to manage the employment relationship and communicate the case for change.
"However it is also incumbent on the government to consider the policy options open to it for reducing the risk of disruptive and damaging industrial action by public service employees, such as banning strike action of those involved in the delivery of essential services.
"If the Government was forced to go down this route it would be a sign of its failure to make the case for change to public sector employees."
Con Dem cuts
And there's the problem. David Cameron has made clear this week that the Tories want a smaller state and would not re-invest in public services even if the recovery were rapid and public finances replenished quickly. The cuts are what the Tories wanted, with the recession used as an excuse.
No amount of good management is going to hoodwink the public sector workers from that reality.
I'm a genius and I've never been promoted............oh wait, that could go round too 
