Sunday Independent Stupid Statement of the Week

Scare story of Halloween week goes to Jim Cusack anyway

The big issue facing Enda Kenny over the garda strike will be at the point at which he picks up the phone to tell the chief-of-staff of the Defence Forces to deploy soldiers.

It may never happen but the need could arise, and quickly. Empty garda stations could come under attack in areas where there are sufficient numbers of disaffected young people.

In an escalating situation, demonstrations infiltrated by republican or other subversive elements could coincide with the absence of gardai seeking better pay. Either the State chequebook or the Army will need to be brought out.

Meanwhile, here is a comment by Eoin O’Malley on the teacher’s strike.

The Great Bertie Buy Off mistook managerialism for progress, and the unions went along for the ride. The unions sold out professional autonomy for extra money. The State didn’t realise that many of its employees are professionals, and true professionals don’t count their hours, they want to do their job well.

For professionals the most powerful management system is the desire to be respected by their peers. It has the advantage in that it is more or less constant and it’s free.

That”s right, true professionals do work for hours when they are not paid, and all they care about is what other people think of them and not their wages. Which might explain why the pay of true professionals like CEOs who show us the way we should all be like Michael O’Leary has risen at a rate exponentially greater over the last 40 years or so than the pay of the people at the coalface. Because they don’t care about silly things like money or stock options or yachts or grace and favour houses. All they care about is being respected. Just like Sindo journalists who all work for free.