Latest news with #civilServants
Daily Mail
9 hours ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Angela Rayner's civil servants launch 'work to rule' protest after being told they cannot WFH
Civil servants in 's department are launching a 'work to rule' protest after being told they cannot work from home. Staff at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, which is headed by the Deputy Prime Minister, will begin the industrial action next week. It follows a dispute over the closure of six offices, the scrapping of 'location-neutral' contracts, and the enforcement of 'rigid' office attendance policies. Members of the Public and Commecial Services (PCS) union, which represents civil servants, will begin action short of a strike on Monday. This will see MHCLG staff who are PCS members work to contract, remove goodwill, and refuse to comply with non-contractual policies and processes. Civil servants in Ms Rayner's department are said to feel particularly frustrated as the Deputy PM is spearheading Labour's reforms to workers' rights. The Employment Rights Bill includes a right to request flexible working, including working from home, and measures to boost trade unions' powers. The legislation will increase the burden of justificaion on bosses so that they must accept a flexible working request unless it is 'not reasonably feasible'. The Bill also seeks to give trade unions greater freedom to organise, represent and negotiate on behalf of their workers. Martin Cavanagh, the PCS president, said: 'From removing staff from an office before the lease expires to spuriously challenging lawful notices of industrial action, the employer seems intent to avoid proper consultation, disregard fair process and alienate its staff. 'Closing local offices while rigidly enforcing mandatory office attendance doesn't make sense. The way out of this dispute is to negotiate, not frustrate.' A Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesperson said: 'We have engaged with unions and staff about a number of proposals – including plans to expand four offices outside of London and close six offices over the next two years, as leases come to an end. 'The department will continue to have offices in every English region as well as Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and all staff affected will be able to continue in their roles.'
Bloomberg
18-06-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Allegra Stratton: Will Rachel Reeves Undo the Non-Dom Mess?
In the Treasury right now, hot and bothered civil servants will already be working away on options for the autumn Budget. But there'll be a worry in the back of their minds. Rachel Reeves has already U-turned on one signature spending cut, the winter fuel allowance. There are now whispers of another: the possibility of a reverse ferret on one of her tax rises, the abolition of the perks of non-dom status.
Reuters
17-06-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
China's civil servants banned from dining out in Xi's austerity drive
BEIJING, June 17 (Reuters) - Some Chinese civil servants have been ordered not to dine out in groups of more than three after deaths linked to excessive alcohol consumption at banquets, according to interviews and social media posts, as Beijing's austerity push ramps up. Revised austerity regulations released in May targeting Communist Party members and public sector workers now bans lavish banquets, "white elephant" infrastructure projects, luxurious car fittings and ornamental plants in work meetings. Analysts say the renewed push is a sign of President Xi Jinping's longstanding preoccupation with anti-corruption and Party discipline, suggesting previous controls were not effective. "The drinking culture among civil servants is indeed quite serious but they haven't found a good solution yet so can only implement a 'one size fits all' policy," said Alfred Wu, associate professor at the National University of Singapore. "While Beijing wants to boost consumption, clean government - which is Xi's fundamental priority - has a price." The measures come after three widely publicised cases of cadre deaths since April linked to excessive drinking at banquets. Dozens of officials have been punished in connection to the deaths in Hunan, Anhui and Henan provinces, where they attempted to conceal details of the banquets and privately compensate the families of the deceased. But new dining guidelines promoted by some localities this week go even further, asking cadres to be wary of social gatherings, not treat bosses or underlings to meals, and avoid "forming small cliques", according to a social media post by a Communist Party body in Anhui province. "When dining with ordinary colleagues, groups of under three are usually fine," read the post, titled 'does it violate regulations to dine with colleagues after work'. "Avoid dining in high-end places, do not constantly meet the same people, do not take the opportunity to form 'small cliques'." The guidance triggered a rare outpouring of complaints on social media from one of the most tightly-controlled groups in China, who increasingly feel that their personal lives are subject to excessive and arbitrary restrictions. "Eating alone is hedonism, eating in a pair is engaging in improper male-female relations, eating in a trio is forming small cliques," read a comment from a user in Hunan province with over 3,500 likes. "Three of us colleagues went out for hotpot at lunch and each of us were punished with a warning," wrote a civil servant in Shandong province. "This is overcorrection, the essence of the guidelines is not wasting public money on lavish banquets but at each level of bureaucracy it gets enforced more harshly," wrote a user in Guangxi region. A civil servant in Sichuan province said her colleagues were ordered to always go straight home after work. Another cadre in Anhui province said her office recently started implementing daily breathalyser tests, while one in Shaanxi province said she was told to get rid of her office plants. Another civil servant in Gansu province was asked to study a list of 20 types of dinner gatherings to avoid, while a state-owned enterprise worker in Wuhan was ordered not to eat lunch with colleagues from other departments or bosses. "Our leader stressed that even if I invite someone in our canteen, spend little and pay the bill, that's not allowed", citing Party discipline, she said. Some cadres in Anhui even reported cold calls from local discipline inspectors asking them to recall the rules from memory or be reported to their supervisors. However, three civil servants in Beijing, rural Guangdong province and Chongqing told Reuters their workplaces did not have excessive implementation. Others told Reuters they welcomed the regulations, as they hated being peer-pressured into drinking with their bosses. The rules supplement the "eight-point regulations", a code of conduct intended to curb rampant corruption in China's vast bureaucracy, which Xi launched soon after taking power in 2012. The number of cadres nationwide punished for violating the 2012 thrift regulations ballooned from 9,292 in February to over 16,500 in April, the latest month for which figures are available. (This story has been refiled with changes to the byline and the dateline)
Free Malaysia Today
11-06-2025
- Business
- Free Malaysia Today
HK to toughen national security checks for food, entertainment spots
Hong Kong chief executive John Lee called the move 'appropriate and necessary'. (AFP pic) HONG KONG : Hong Kong will toughen screening of caterers and other food and entertainment businesses for potential violations of national security, which civil servants should accord top priority in deciding licence approvals, the city's leader said on Tuesday. Critics see the move as targeting the Asian financial hub's many businesses, including cafes and restaurants, that have displayed posters, symbols or images expressing solidarity with its embattled pro-democracy movement. Numbering in the hundreds, and sometimes called 'conscience-driven businesses', they face growing pressure from authorities, such as greater tax scrutiny and fire safety and customs checks, at a time when many reel from an economic and retail downturn. 'Food and environmental hygiene officers … should place national security as the most important consideration and make appropriate assessments,' John Lee told reporters. He called the move 'appropriate and necessary', saying all civil servants were expected to rate security as the highest priority under the national security law. The city's food and hygiene department would follow the law in considering new licences and renewing existing ones, he added. In recent years, authorities in the Asian financial hub have made use of sweeping national security laws imposed after mass anti-government protests in 2019 to systematically crack down on many of its liberal pockets. In May, the food and environmental hygiene department sent letters to thousands of food and entertainment premises, obliging them to accept new terms related to national security. In one document seen by Reuters, the government told business owners to ensure no activity in which they were engaged or involved in 'may constitute or cause the occurrence of an offence endangering national security'. One owner of several eateries run on lines he described as 'values-based', said he would 'simply carry on with a calm and steady mindset', and strive to follow all regulations. 'Regardless of one's social or political stance, over 90% of Hong Kong's businesses are currently struggling under the weight of the economic downturn,' added the owner, who sought anonymity for fear of reprisals. The former British colony's crackdown on dissent, from arresting democratic activists to shuttering liberal media and civil society groups, has drawn criticism from countries such as Australia, Britain, Canada and the US.
Khaleej Times
05-06-2025
- Business
- Khaleej Times
Afghan civil servants face bleak Eid after salaries delayed
Abdul Saboor usually treats his children to new clothes for the Eid al-Adha holiday but like many Afghan public sector workers, he is scraping by this year awaiting a delayed salary. The Taliban government has faced recurring difficulties paying civil servants since returning to power in 2021, leaving families grappling with financial uncertainty in one of the world's poorest countries. "We bought only cookies and dried fruits for Eid," said Saboor, which he said would be shared with visiting friends. One of the biggest holidays in the Muslim calendar, Eid al-Adha -- which begins on Saturday -- is celebrated with the sacrifice of an animal shared among family, neighbours and the needy to honour Ibhrahim's, or Abraham's, willingness to sacrifice his son, before God offered a sheep instead. The 45-year-old, who works for the Parwan provincial government's rural development department, was relieved to cash in two months' salary last week, but he put the money directly into paying off debts to shops he'd been relying on for credit. "We couldn't go to some shopkeepers, we were embarrassed," he told AFP. Afghanistan has faced major economic challenges since 2021 and is experiencing one of the world's most severe humanitarian crises, according to the United Nations. "Delays in the payment of wages and salaries point to persistent liquidity constraints and broader challenges in ensuring timely government expenditures," the World Bank said in an April report. Despite signs of recovery, the economic outlook remains "uncertain", the Bank said, with "growing fiscal pressures", a widening trade deficit and entrenched poverty. Public sector workers faced a similar struggle in March, receiving some delayed pay ahead of the Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan. 'Make ends meet' The finance ministry said this week it was in the process of paying all civil servants two months' worth of unpaid salaries, without explaining the delay or saying if future wages would be paid on time. Since the start of June, "almost all of the departments have received their salaries" for two months, spokesman Ahmad Wali Haqmal told AFP on Tuesday. The Taliban government has not made its recent budgets public -- but experts say security spending has been prioritised at the expense of other departments. On Wednesday morning, a central Kabul bank was packed with government employees shouting for their turn to collect salaries before the Eid holiday. In Kandahar city, government-paid workers also lined up to collect their money, some voicing only gratitude for getting paid. Hayatullah, a 21-year-old teacher in the Taliban heartland province, said he only received one-month's salary. "We will try to make ends meet," he said, refusing to give his full name for fear of reprisal. "But we can't afford the Eid expenses." 'Children's expectations' Last year, the government slashed salaries of women staff who were forced to stay home since the Taliban seized power and prevented them from working in mixed offices. Jobs have been cut from other departments in recent months, though government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid in April said reducing staff was a "normal" process aimed at improving efficiency. Mohammad, who works for a government office in Ghor and did not want to give his real name for fear of reprisal, said he had already spent his salary paying back loans to shopkeepers and had nothing left for Eid celebrations. "We received the salaries for two months very late and we have faced a lot of problems during this period," he said. "Eid is coming and when there is no money, it is really worrying -- there are the children's expectations, family's expectations and Eid day expenses," said the 40-year-old who is the only breadwinner for 10 people. "My family has to wait."
