PSA MEDIA RELEASE
July 20, 2009
For Immediate Use

Privatising public service will not lift productivity

“Giving public sector workers greater freedom to respond to the needs of the public and to be more innovative will boost public sector productivity far more than privatising or contracting out public services,” says PSA national secretary Brenda Pilott.

She’s responding to a speech by Treasury Secretary John Whitehead delivered in Wellington this afternoon.

Commenting on how the public sector is performing Mr Whitehead asked “should we buying some things from the private sector rather than doing them ourselves?”

“Mr Whitehead is sending a clear signal that we should be privatising public services,” says Brenda Pilott.

“He believes that this will lift productivity. We reject that view.”

“We’re amazed Mr Whitehead says we should be privatising public services when bad management in the private sector has created the worst global recession since the Great Depression.”

“Privatisation is not the answer. Giving public sector workers the freedom to be more responsive and innovative is the key to lifting productivity not privatisation.”

“We should be talking to public sector workers about how to lift public sector productivity. They are the experts in this area because they deliver public services every day.”

“The effective way to lift productivity in the public sector is for the staff and employers to work together on this issue not by privatising public services in the false hope that this will automatically lift productivity,” says Brenda Pilott.

ENDS

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