Friday, February 08, 2008

Is all not well in Lord Eliis Thomas fiefdom

In Cork for the weekend. (Did you know that a prosthetic knee makes the security machine at the airport bleep). No sooner had I landed at Cork's splendid new airport than I had another call from Edna Mopbucket. I'll have to compensate her for the cost of an International call. I hope Miss Wagstaffe is not offering her money. She told me that staff in the Assembly Parliamentary Service are not happy. No, not happy at all. "Bloody tamping" is how Edna put it. She swears that some of the APS staff are so 'bloody tamping' that at least some are talking about strike action. I told her that she must be exaggerating. They are just not the sort to strike. For those who don't know, APS staff serve the Assembly as a whole , rather than the Assembly Government.

Its about money of course. What else. According to Edna, who picked the story up in the corridor (he/she emphasised this because I'm always accusing his/her of listening at keyholes). He/she gets very cross when I call him/her a common eavesdropper. It seems that several APS staff are not being paid for the hours they have worked - and are not being allowed time off in lieu either. I told her that the best way to get AMs to see sense would be to refuse to process their salaries and allowance claims. Funny how you see things differently when you are no longer an AM yourself!!

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