Wow -- the last time that he was questioned on his relationship with Peter Nygard, Christie said that he was too tired to answer questions. Now he is too tired to answer about the BEC situation. Maybe he is too tired to run this country. What a sad sorry excuse for a Prime Minister.

Thought the same. Thought the first time was a slip, but he's said it again. He won't have the stamina for 4 more years at this pace. Maybe that's what his MP's are hoping for.... They don't seem to be helping him too much

notice this paper will not probe into the sale of BEC, they just keep focusing with a mission on this .........

he is not solent
he sent shame gibson to deliver the message

the bec union head said on tv last night that national insurance is to help with medical expenses. he is wrong, wrong wrong. he apparently is shameless too

He actually said that???? I can't believe hat the man put n charge of NIB said that? What is Rowena Bethel saying? That is scary to the tenth power....they either don't know what they're doing or they don't care

the bec union head said that on the nb 12 news, that nib benefits is additional to help with medical expenses.

that is not what is written in the law, of course

The PM is silent but the other daily paper is reporting that the DPM says "BEC sick pay status quo to remain". I guess as Mitt Romney would say, the DPM was for it before he was against it. All this duplicity should make us scared that someting big may be happening in the background. The fact that the government is pushing VAT down our throats and at the same time is unwilling to take a moral stand on this widespread practice that is patently wrong and costing the tax payers millions of dollars a year speaks volumes. I understand that there may be legal constraints to changing the practice immediately but that should not stop us from declaring that at the earliest opportunity this practice will be changed.

I'm skeptical about what we've been "fed" regarding legal challenges. Common sense tells me that you cannot enter into a contract that (I don't know the correct word) nullifies/ignores(?) an existing contract. If that were the case everyone who bought a stolen car would be allowed to keep it. Nib's standing clause and BEC's standing clause makes clear what NIB is for and how it should work. No one can enter into a contract contrary to that. Every member of staff is given a copy of the handbook, going to assume they are told to read it. Ignorance of the law is no excuse.

That said I'm not a lawyer, this reasoning just seems to make sense to me...

Skepticism is required when there has been so much conflicting information put out into the public domain on this issue. I have read the NIB Act, and I certainly stand to be corrected, but I did not see the section that prohibits this practice. The Act seem to state that an employer has the right but not a legal obligation to adjust the salary of employees who also claim NIB sickness benefits. BEC, as did most of the civil service, appeared to have granted their employees this enhanced benefit over an extended period. The legal question then is after having granted this benefit over an extended period and the employees having relied upon and forming a legal expectation to receive this benefit can BEC unilaterally revoke this benefit. Obviously this is a simplification of the legal and practical issues that involve many embedded aspects of common and contract law.

Ok I get your point, I still don't buy it...from them that is. Companies change their medical plans all the time in the face of shifting economic conditions. No action is brought against them if say they remove dental coverage after years of offering the benefit. (disclaimer: NIB isn't a medical plan, just using this as an example) .

Algernon Cargill changed same practice at NIB. He saw the obvious abuse and cut it out. As Shane Gibson said some weeks ago, ~*in review of the operations, as they find erroneous long standing practices, they are correcting them.*

(Isn't there also something about the law's "intent". Could the law as written intend that an insurance benefit restores a person 100+%..seems unreasonable. insurance never does that. It would break the back of the insurance plan. Can you imagine what will happen if not 20,000 but 150,000 people started claiming this benefit if this mess isn't corrected?)

Also you cannot make a contract to do an illegal thing. For example you cannot have a written contract for a captain to run a boat for you to take cocaine to Miami. If he refuses at the last minute, you cannot take him to court. Even if its not your cocaine and you won't be receiving the money directly.

What?! I cant take him to court. Do I at least get to keep the cocaine? :)

LOL

To this, I will repost the same message I put last week ...

Perhaps Mr. Miller can take a different tack - in light of the threat of power shutdown. He can publicly say that "Obviously the BEC union has the country's head in a noose, and not wanting to see my country hang by the neck - I hereby recognize the lofty authority and superior value of BEC employees and their Union - and therefore now ORDER that BEC employees on sick leave will be paid DOUBLE-TIME from BEC and ALSO be allowed to collect their NIB benefit - in effect changing double-dipping to triple-dipping - because if they are allowed to double-dip - then why not triple-dip. This policy will take effect as of Dec 1st."

Maybe that will stir up enough concern from the public to march on Rawson Square. If not, then in January - he should change it to triple-pay + NIB (quadruple-dipping) while on sick leave. Hey why not? Nobody can do anything about it, right? They can be paid 10x their salary while sick and WHO can do anything? Obviously even the PM cannot.

All of us know of the cautious nature of the PM. Do you really expect to stick a microphone in his face and to have him blurt out something. Cmon only Leslie Miller is a press whore.

"I'm tired" (?)

So the PM can't be tired after spending all yall money.Give the man a break telling ,you the country is in bad shape and then spending your money like it can't end can take a lot out of a man.

I never said "he can't be tired". I literally commented the last time he made a similar statement that I could empathize with him being tired at the end of a long day. What I **am** surprised at, as I said above, is that he repeated the statement. In that vein I was referring to your *do you really expect to stick a microphone in his face and have him blurt something out"....apparently yes! and it works consistently, remember the advice to "sell sand to the US" which turns out to be illegal?

Man, PGC can't waste his big words on this small issue. Y'all better relax before he asks to be put in a medically induced coma. You know he's been tired for months, and now, after all that travelling, what do you expect?