SDSM promised it won’t be sacking administration employees, but now it announces it will sack some of them

Speaking about the higher salaries and new employments as well as the announced reforms in the public sector, the Minister of Information Society and Administration, Damjan Manchevski, said that some administrative employees are going to leave the public sector. This statement of his can be assessed as inconsistent, having in mind that his fellow party members and he once promised that not a single administration employee will get fired.

There is no need to talk reforms with those who don’t do their job. There simply isn’t anything left for them to do here

[Source: Nova TV – date: 19 November 2018]

EXPLANATION:

SDSM’s pre-election program “Plan for Life” lays down that the new government shall reform the public administration, which is a “necessary prerequisite for a truly responsible government” (page 21) that aims to create expert, efficient, accountable and transparent administration that would be a service to the citizens, not the parties (page 24). In addition, the program explicitly emphasizes that the administration reform doesn’t entail firing administration employees (page 7).

The main employment criterion shall not be the party membership, but the expertise, competence and experience in the field. The administrative clerks shall not be fired. Following an analysis of the situation in the administration, it shall be reorganized…, is said on page 25 of the program.

This non-firing policy in the public administration was continued by SDSM and its representatives even after the Government was formed. During this period, the social-democrats justified the process of new jobs creation because, as they put it, plenty of institutions had lacked adequate and expert staff, and also stood firm on the position that no administrative clerks shall be fired although the administration is overemployed.

The number of employees in the public administration is too big, but we as a Government have committed to creation of new decently paid jobs. At the end of the day, if somebody gets fired, you will have to find that person a job in the private sector. We have to reduce the total number of unemployed, therefore we’ve opted for this step in order to show that although we have this colossal public administration, it still can be reorganized, Manchevski said soon after he was elected Minister of information society and administration (11 June 2017).

However, as time went by, the thick line dividing the Government’s non-firing policy from its attempt to reorganize the administration in order to render it more efficient started evolving, so nowadays when government representatives talk about reforming the administration they talk about optimization too. In this regard, Manchevski and the Government announce abolishment of bodies, executive boards, managerial positions and even downsizing, but the Government will make efforts to find jobs in the private sectors for those affected by it.

This might be a painful process for some, but it’s something that must be done in order to put the chaos to order. This means possible abolishment of institutions, lowering the number of managers, executive boards and executives. At first, we are going to try and find these people a place in the system, of course if the analysis finds that certain people create a surplus, so as we have been saying for a while, we are going to prepare an offer to the private sector – Manchevski said during his presentation of the analysis of the situation in the public sector (5 November 2018).

In the same context, Prime Minister Zoran Zaev announced that the Government will thank the administration employees who don’t do their jobs. He also announced that Employment Agency’s programs will offer the private companies to take a part of the public administration, which prompted a reaction of the corresponding trade union. The unionists refuse a transfer to the private sector because they were promised that every administration employee will keep their job.

Without a doubt, it is of utmost importance for the administration to be reformed and reorganized, but the stances of Manchevski and other government representatives are inconsistent compared to their promises laid down in the party’s program and in their public speeches.

SOURCES:

• NOVA TV (19 November 2018) – Манчевски: Тој што не работи нема што да бара во администрацијата [Accessed on 25 November 2018]
•  Alsat M (11 June 2017) – Aдминистрацијата превработена ама нема да има отпуштања [Accessed on 25 November 2018]
•  Plusinfo (05 November 2018) – Манчевски: Можеби ќе биде и болен процес, но мора да се стави ред на хаосот во администрацијата [Accessed on 25 November 2018]
•  Faktor (08 April 2018) – Заев вели администрацијата е катастрофална, ќе им се заблагодарат на оние кои не си ја вршат работата [Accessed on 25 November 2018]
• Sitel (19 November 2018) – Синдикатот изненаден од најавата дека ќе се крати администрацијата [Accessed on 25 November 2018]
•  Pre-election program of SDSM “Plan for Life” (page 7, page 21, page 24, page 25) [Accessed on 25 November 2018]

Assessed by: Vlatko Stojanovski

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