Arms-length fat cats stuff their pockets as staff tighten their belts

I'd usually hesitate to call the origin of this week's States management scandal a "tough question", given that I think almost anyone could've seen this a mile off, but it seems our public sector boi Rob Ward is back at it again, and, as unsurprising as it is, his latest question in the Assembly has given the gorging slugs at the top of the semi-privatised dumps known as "arm's length companies" some uncomfortable reading.

Courtesy of the Wicked Witch's response to a written question from Deputy Ward, it's come out that while staff at JT, Jersey Post, the JDC, Andium and Ports of Jersey - all semi-privatised States companies run in the business-like style that neoliberal ghouls crave so desperately - have received pay rises that were below inflation (and thus below the rise in the cost of living, which, as we all know, is hardly showing any signs of slowing), while the executives at the top of these failed experiments in pseudo-privatisation have received fat pay increases.

Among the fat cats named in the rag's reporting (which I'll add is five days after the question was actually answered, showing how badly we need comprehensive independent media to cover things that actually matter instead of the bass ban or toucan crossings) were Ian Gallichan, chief exec of "social" housing monopoly Andium homes (the same Andium homes that'll charge you rents equivalent to 90% of those you'd be paying in the private sector) had his salary whacked up by 26%, from £150K in 2016 to £189K in 2017. His finance director, John Hamon, got his salary bumped by more than £20K, from £120K in 2016 to £141K in 2017. Meanwhile, terminally ill sufferers of Huntington's are waiting three years on highest priority for an Andium home and for every affordable home in Andium's supply there are on average 30 applications as house prices soar. Andium's response? Andium chairman, former Establishment caudillo and PR man for Haut de la Garenne nonces extraordinaire, Frank Walker, defended the pay rises by claiming they're just a one-off. Oh, so that's alright then. As for Andium's employees, they, er, didn't get a pay rise in 2016. At all. Walker threw them a bone in 2017, with a 2% pay rise - the only problem being that their wages had still fallen in real terms, given that inflation that year stood at 3.6%.

Meanwhile, JDC non-executive directors Ann Santry and Paul Masterson saw their pay packets jump from £15K to £20K and Graeme Millar, head honcho at the unfit-for-purpose JT was bumped from £346K to £363K, a rise of 5%, while his staff had to get by on a 1% rise in 2016 and a 1.7% rise in 2017.

I don't think I've seen a story this year that better encapsulates the phrase "well, imagine my shock". Given the gangland-scale bungs of cash being tossed the way of the Gang of Five in their crusade against public sector workers, housing norms and retrograde, silo-mentality vestiges like democracy, the fact that staff in these companies are getting summarily screwed while the folks at the top fill their boots just isn't surprising, at all. It's a depressing sign of the times when stuff like this becomes boringly ordinary, almost normal. Remind me again why JT, Andium, Ports et cetera exist? Remind me again how fully socialised and democratically controlled versions of these existing organisations couldn't do a far better job? Remind me again why running public services as a business is anything less than a completely insane idea?

The fact that the pockets of our valuable public services staff are being plundered to enrich the lard-arses in management is honestly disgusting. It really is high time this pointless experiment was summarily bopped on the head and fully socialised.