Ken: Sack skivers

Ken Livingstone has urged bosses to sack skiving staff and risk being taken to a tribunal.

The mayor told business leaders they should take a hard line on staff who went off sick, saying they were guilty of theft.

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And he told how he had noticed some of his own staff going sick until just before their pay would be reduced, adding: "If it was up to me I would sack the person and say this is absolute abuse."

Mr Livingstone was speaking to members of the London Chamber of Commerce. He was asked by Fiona Taheri, who runs a small export business in Surrey, how she could deal with a member of staff who had been off sick for weeks. He said: "My advice is to sack them and let them make their case at the industrial tribunal."

When Mrs Taheri said her insurance company advised her against sacking the employee, Mr Livingstone said: "My second bugbear is insurance companies."

He added: "We should live with a level of risk. If something so catastrophic happened that ran into billions the government would have to bail you out anyway.

"The London Chamber of Commerce should have a policy on sacking-This is theft. They are stealing from all of us."

Mr Livingstone told how he faced the same problems among the 600 employees of the Greater London Authority, but was powerless to act.

"I have noticed that out of 600 staff who work there, there is a handful that are off right up to the point before their pay is reduced, then come back and go off for something else," he said.

Explaining why he had not already sacked skiving staff, Mr Livingstone said: "I am in a weak position at the GLA. The assembly appoint the staff and dismiss them. I only appoint 12 staff - they are my senior advisors."