Civil serfing

A whistleblowing blogger in Whitehall has been tracked down by cyber-detectives and suspended from her job as a civil servant in the Department of Work and Pensions. (Hat tip: David Jones MP)
But the internet is increasingly becoming a refuge for disgruntled public sector staff.

The 33-year-old known as ‘Civil Serf’ was recording for an internet audience instances of Government ‘incompetence’ since November and attracted something of a cult following.
She dubbed prime minister Gordon Brown as ‘Velcro-man’ because ‘bad news always stuck to him’ unlike ‘Teflon Tony’ Blair; and declared that senior politicians only took decisions at the weekend ‘probably because they have their spouse and/or political adviser to do it for them’.
Two support staff for AMs were 'virtually' dismissed for sharing their views on internet blog sites while many anonymous bloggers are believed to have insider Assembly links, with some sites regularly changing/protecting their ‘identities’.
Blog entries have landed AMs in front of the standards committee too.
No surprise that staff at the Senedd might be reticent about their identities when commenting on the recent AMs’ 8.3% pay rise.
One who e-mailed the Daily Post wanted to be known only as Just Some Guy ‘overworked and underpaid in Cardiff Bay’.
It is always difficult to assess the merit of anonymous contributions because of the obvious suspicion that someone isn’t what they claim to be, or otherwise has an axe to grind.
But, that aside, this correspondent, who ‘currently works for an AM’ raised some interesting points about the increasing workload for the elected members.
“The main increase in their workload has been the increase in the number of committees the AMs sit on, mainly LCO committees,” the message said..
“However, aside from the extra three hours a week they spend sat in committee, most of the extra work has fallen on their staff who do the research and write their speeches for them.
“There are many AMs, I will not name names, that actually do very little and get by on because they are well briefed by their staff.
“Many have no idea what casework goes in and out of their offices.
“I have been informed that staff salaries will be reviewed in the future, but I do not believe for one minute that our own pay rises will be as generous, or backdated to May in the same way theirs are.”
Owch!
Another ‘former support staff worker’ blogging on-line declared: “I can assure as someone who worked for an AM, they don’t all work hard at all, they are in the bay 1.5 days, their constituency on a Friday at most, and that depends on they have any functions on.”
There is an argument that the extra pay is not just for ‘extra work’ but for the ‘extra responsibility’ that law-making heaps on the elected legislature, rated at 82% of that of an MP.
Presiding officer Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas plans a root and branch examination of AMs’ allowances which presently cover the salaries of their staff.
He wants to root out the employment of family members, use of allowances to buy equity in property, and pay rent to political parties.
He would like to see support staff employed directly by the Assembly Commission with a salary structure in place.
Unfortunately it could take until after the next Assembly elections in 2011 for the result of an independent review to influence such decisions, leaving staff to grumble on the internet.