THE deputy who, until yesterday at least, held the dubious distinction of resigning from two committees in the space of six months was clear what he wanted back in July from the airport firefighters tribunal.

‘This is not about pointing fingers. It’s about making sure we never find ourselves in the same position again,’ said Deputy Tony Spruce, on the day his resignation from the PSRC was accepted.

He felt undermined by the chief minister and the EPA panel in the same way he would later feel undermined when his colleagues in Public Services voted against the Suez incinerator.

Whether an authoritative report wholly critical of the PSRC, supportive of the firefighters and condemning of the island’s fudged government system was exactly what Deputy Spruce had in mind is doubtful.

Nevertheless, he is right that such a situation should never arise again.

Partly, that is because the pay bargaining system used by the States has been exposed as divisive, antiquated and confrontational.

Criticism of PSRC’s role in the report ranges far and wide. Its ‘one size fits all’ approach to collective bargaining treated all public workers the same and its rock-headed negotiating led to what the States new HR manager called the worst breakdown in relations he had ever seen.

A more professional approach must be brought in where fully trained negotiators take over the reins under the leadership of central HR.

In turn, HR will report to the Policy Council.

But, if this is to be the turning point which this government so badly needs, the changes must go much further than that, to the heart of government.

The resistance will rapidly coalesce.

To spot them, they are the ones who welcome the report, insist the States is already working on solutions, then do nothing about it.

It’s a tactic that has worked well so far as report after report gets lost in a fog of inactivity.

And, of course, the ultimate irony is that the States itself is so dysfunctional that it lacks the capacity to embrace rapid and wholesale change.

Instead the island is fed a sickly diet of fudge.