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Extra Bank Holiday and other compensation for Covid

Economics101

There is increasing pressure for people to be "compensated" for their work during the pandemic. A sum of over €350m has been mentioned for the health service alone. And other public sector workers are getting on the bandwagon. A few points:

Some will have got significant extra overtime earnings where the pandemic has required extra work

Some who were at work incurred very little exceptional risk (bus drivers driving largely empty buses and in a separate driving compartment)

Basically living standards are determined by what we produce as a society. If the pandemic lessened out production it must in some way lessen our consumption: we cant just all compensate one another out of an economic shock. Is al this yet another manifestation of the cult of the magic money tree in Irish politics?

It was told to cocoon in early 2020. I found this rather patronising and infantilising. Should I get compensation? NO!

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FoFo1254122

There should be 12 bank holidays going forward

everybody wins

User1998

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117935683#Comment_117935683

As a shop worker throughout the pandemic I don’t think I deserve any recognition. All the major retailers gave their staff a bonus including mine so that is enough for me

fliball123

If ever a secnario highlights the public sector sense of entitlement and collective bargaining culture it is this. Lets remember something covid happened to us all. Some where told they cannot work and had there wage cut to 350 a week and we were all asked to stay in doors. Everyone suffered and had to work through this one way or the other.

The 3 groups mentioned here out of the public sector (HSE, Garda and teachers) all looking for a reward. A reward for what doing their job?

All PS employees were already rewarded with OT or/and an annual increment. So hows about this we reward all the public sector with a guarantee of their job being safe, guarantee of a pension and a guarantee of an annual increment - oh wait they get that reward already even if they decide to blow in breathalyzers and fabricate work they clearly did not do or if they make an a$$ of a load of cervical checks which actually lead to people dying. As for teachers they literally phoned it in during the pandemic. They had work for kids on a Monday and there was no contact till the Friday when they were correcting the seasaw work. The parent effectively did the teachers work for them, where is there reward. AS for those pointing at some private sector companies like Tesco or Aldi giving bonuses. Look at how profitable these companies where? they had record profits. Now the public sector needs to look at their employer, this year alone we need to borrow 17billion not to mention the debt sprialling above the 250Billion mark. The public sector are already well rewarded for the work they have done and if they feel they are not happy with their lot feel free to join Aldi or Tesco I also hear Dunnes are recruiting.

jrosen

Its gone where I expected it too, more and more people holding their hand out.

I see some merit in financially compensating medical staff, especially those who worked tirelessly in the early stages of covid when we didnt really know much but I would draw the line there.

Ireland is broke, we dont have the money to be throwing away and if they have this money that they want to spend there are so many public services that are on their knees and could really do with more staff/more funding, better equipment. Lets put the money there.

markodaly

As a matter of interest, are there other countries doing the same thing as Ireland?

I know that the nurses at the NHS got a 2% pay increase which was not well received.

There are ways to reward people that shouldn't cost a lot of money, but in Ireland, we are always straight out with the hand and few bob in the back pocket.

[Deleted User]

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117948510#Comment_117948510

That’s great to hear.

Thank you and your colleagues for your dedication. It was much appreciated.

lyda

Ireland has less public holidays than the US or most other EU countries. We should get at least three more.

lyda

I'd also note this pandemic has shown that we severely under-resource the health sector on loads of levels. Post-covid we're going to need to increase health spending. First to deal with long covid. Next to deal with mental health issues caused by the pandemic, for PTSD for healthcare workers and for all the folks we weren't providing care for before the pandemic started.

Moving towards a fully public system - which has proven to be less expensive per capita over and over again - would be one way to get some of that extra spending by reducing the waste inherent in private systems. But we also need to have to invest more and reform the loads of management in the HSE who haven't been hugely effective.

tiredblondie

I have a public sector family member whose department was closed throughout the majority of the pandemic - they were off on full pay.

I'm a private sector worker, worked half the pandemic in the office and half of it at home .

I'm not looking for any kind of "bonus" (which my employer didn't offer anyway!) but it would be pretty sickening for someone to get a "reward" for doing absolutely nothing and on full pay too!!

DebDynamite

Whatever about saying that all healthcare workers deserve a reward, even among the HCW, there were those who didn’t have to deal with any extra hardship at all.

I know two consultants who had the quietest their time ever in their career during the pandemic. They went into their offices and did their usual working hours, from home at the beginning when they could. Mainly did Zoom consultations, or where a face-to-face was required there was major social distancing.

Now at the beginning, no one knew what was going to happen. I remember there was a jokey meme going around which said something like “stay at home, unless you want to be intubated by a psychiatrist”. There was a genuine belief that the scenes we witnessed in Bergamo would be replicated here a few weeks later, and every doctor would be redeployed. But of course it never got close to that.

So in the end, these consultants had an easy time of it. Their circa €200,000 salary was untouched, and while it couldn’t be spend anywhere, they were saving serious amounts of money.

Any rewards which could be introduced would be small change to the high earners in the HSE, and it would dilute the pool or money from which the most deserving would get their share.

Plus you have the HCW workers and nursing home staff working in private nursing homes, who had one of the worst times of it, but because they don’t work for the HSE, they could lose out.

I really don’t know who it can be done fairly, so as the most deserving get rewarded. And with all the millions it’s going to cost, is it even worth the hassle?

hotmail.com

The government should have announced an extra 1,000 euro for every nurse months ago and this wouldn't be a story.

It seems the government wants to let this story drag to distract us from other stuff.

Beechwoodspark

Just designate Christmas Eve or the day after Stephens day as a bank holiday

job done

JP Liz V1

Where is these magic money trees growing

I applaud and am grateful for all the workers during this pandemic especially healthcare

Anita Blow

As a doctor I don't know any of my colleagues who have asked for or want a cash bonus or other. An extra bank holiday would be useless because for some it would just be another long weekend having to work and for everyone else it's another day deducted from their annual leave.

I think most would far prefer however many hundreds of millions this would cost to be invested into the health service so it's not constantly on the brink- training posts, more beds, infrastructure etc.

Dickie10

No a bank holiday in or around christmas is of absolutely no use to the economy or really the people. There wouldnt be a an economic kickback on 27 december as people are already spending money. you need it on a weekend that people are usually not spending money , to get the benefit economically and for the public wellbeing, a huge amount of adults and children are off during xmas, so what use is that to the well being. ? theres a very strong case as far as I can see to the first monday in february as being the bank holiday, breaks up the long haul from xmas to paddys day nicely also gets the economy kickstarted after christmas, as well as that its already the weekend a lot of people break out on beer again with 6 nations games starting.

the only other case I can make is for around last monday in September , a nice break during long spell from early august bank hooliday til late october. the weather is still good also, but first monday in februrary would be my go to.

Degag

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117951154#Comment_117951154

I don't think that it "wouldn't be a story."

a) you'd probably have people kicking off because of the "paltry" €1000

b) pretty much every other sector shouting (some justifiably) as to why they didn't get the money also.

DebDynamite

Yeah, I’d agree with the first Monday in February as well. Depending on how the dates fall in February, it could also be a Monday off following the Super Bowl the night before, and would bring people out into the pubs to watch it. A good few people already take that day off as annual leave.

There’s people in retail and healthcare saying and bank holiday would be of no benefit to them as they’d have to work, but surely they either would get another day off in lieu or would get bank holiday pay, so I don’t see the problem.

Degag

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117951495#Comment_117951495

Understand that it could make A&E departments busier that weekend potentially. But in personal terms you get another day AL to use when you want.

I don't get the "for everyone else it's another day deducted from their annual leave" part?

Anita Blow

Bank holidays are automatically deducted as a day's annual leave so if the contract isn't updated to reflect an additional annual leave day instead, then a new bank holiday will simply be one less annual leave day

[Deleted User]

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117950076#Comment_117950076

But the private hospitals were required during the pandemic and the private hospitals are also providing surgery etc to public patients who dont have health insurance.

Where is the waste in the private sector.

We spend billions on the health service so how can you say its under resourced.

Degag

Depends on the contract i'd guess. Most would say "x days annual leave" plus bank holidays i'd imagine rather than "x days leave inclusive of bank holidays."

In any case, the de facto purpose of this should be/will be that each worker gets an extra days holiday per year.

khalessi

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117947782#Comment_117947782

Im very surprised at teaching unions. For months teachers campaigned online and writing to TDs to get classrooms made safe for children in light of airborne virus Delta. Any teacher I know would prefer a hepa filter in their classroom to clean the air and reduce transmission of infections. Teachers didnt ask for this.

IMHO only those on the actual frontline all sectors involved with hospitals transporting supplies etc shoudl get this.

dotsman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117951160#Comment_117951160

<pedantic>The day after Stephen's Day is already a bank holiday</pedantic>

...and a lot of companies outside of retail etc treat Xmas Eve similar to one as well (i.e. do nothing, have a few drinks, go home early etc).

Degag

The 27th isn't a bank holiday. It just so happens that this year workers are entitled to it off as Christmas Day/St Stephens Day falls on a weekend.

If the aforementioned days fell during the week, people would have to work the 27th as normal.

dotsman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117951966#Comment_117951966

Afraid that's incorrect. It is a bank holiday. It is not a Public Holiday, but it is a Bank Holiday (same as Good Friday). While people use the terms interchangeably, there is a massive difference. Public holidays are determine by the state and have specific legal meanings in terms of work practices, workers right's etc. Bank holidays are days that banks observe as holidays. They too have legal meanings, but more in relation to financial processing/services etc. All Public Holidays, by their nature, are Bank Holidays, but not all Bank Holidays are Public holidays. Pretty much every traditional "office" type company observers bank holidays - Financial Institutes, Civil Service etc, but it is entirely optional for the org (outside of banking) to do so.

Degag

Ok, I understand why you used "pedantic" tags now which is grand but it's fairly clear that we are not referring to the holidays that banks themselves observe in this thread.

The 27th is not a Public Holiday/Bank Holiday in the sense we are talking about it and it remains a good option if the Government go down the road of giving us another one.

shesty

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117951721#Comment_117951721

Where does this happen?!Not something I've ever encountered.

rob316

I called it, the teachers want it now. After holding our children's education hostage, **** off.

Scrap the lot.

hotmail.com

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117951650#Comment_117951650

Any chance this holiday could have nothing to do with American culture?

maestroamado

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117952147#Comment_117952147

Well on the news yesterday they were talking about THANKSGIVING DAY....