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Wage increases a province-wide issue

Pundits weigh in on municipal wage increases

Whistler is no exception when it comes to high municipal wage increases. The 17.5 per cent raise RMOW employees and managers will have received by the end of 2011 is typical of what's happening across the province.

Mission agreed to a 19.4 per cent increase for all its employees in 2009.

Critics call these increases out of step with the current economic climate. This year's four per cent increase in Whistler is more than double the projected rate of inflation. While those within the governments claim they're necessary to maintain a motivated work force, others argue for belt tightening.

In the meantime higher levels of government are freezing or capping wage increases. The Province of British Columbia has imposed a "zero-zero" collective bargaining mandate for most workers in the public sector, which includes no increases in compensation, for two years beginning with the 2010 budget. The Government of Canada has imposed a 1.5 per cent limit on compensation for people working in the federal public sector.

Feeling the pressure, West Vancouver council agreed this week to give only a 1.1 per cent wage increase to employees for the 2011 budget year (see associated story). In light of the controversial increases, Pique asked a few people well versed in the issue to comment on what's happening across the province, and why.

 

 

Jock Finlayson, executive vice-president of policy at the Business Council of British Columbia

 

"(There's an) anomaly of local government compensation increases that are dramatically higher than we're seeing at other levels of government, at a time when many taxpayers have gone through a recession and have seen their own net worth take a hit, due to real estate and housing markets, and other things. It is quite glaring and the lesson that comes out of it is local governments in B.C. tend to be taken to the cleaners by the unions, in my experience. They're out-bargained, out-negotiated frequently and they're all very reluctant to look at out-sourcing services and activities that could potentially be done at a lower cost in the private sector.

"There should be a much stronger focus at the municipal level, in my opinion, on delivering services at a lower level cost. It doesn't seem to matter who's in office in what municipality, the basic argument is 'No, we have to provide these services, the people want them, and we can't cut services and we can't cut staff at any level.' It's an odd approach to managing anything."

 

 

Ken Melamed, Mayor of Resort Municipality of Whistler

 

"We don't understand here - and we've had this conversation - how you cut labour costs in the snow-clearing department without negatively impacting or unacceptably impacting the service that people expect. We get calls now about; 'my road wasn't clear' or 'somebody pushed snow up against my car.'

"There is an expectation of service levels and we try to be as cost-effective as we can to provide the service levels that we can provide. It's just not as simple as saying why are we reluctant to do that. We're not reluctant at all. We've demonstrated that this year (by) removing 13 and a half full-time equivalent positions off the operational payroll (...)

"While it sounds easy and everybody has this preconceived notion that there's all this redundancy in municipal government, the fact is we provide a number of services, which you would have to say are core or essential, and there's a level below which you can't go ...  without having to jeopardize people's quality of life and return on investment."

 

 

Gregory Thomas, Taxpayer Federation of Canada, director for B.C.

 

"The question we have to ask mayors and councils is look at this high-priced staff. Not the guy who's running the snowplow, but look at the executives, the guys you're paying the big six-figure wages to. What's happened to their wages in the same period?

"Everybody blames the unions, but are these guys trying to hold blind for the taxpayers or are they sticking their nose in the trough at the front of the line basically? In other words; whose team are the senior managers on? Are they on the taxpayers team or are they on their own team?"

 

 

Brian Bonney, director of provincial affairs for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business in B.C.

 

"The problem with municipal governments is they have never had to do with less. Think about that. They never go through a recession where the income that they get is derived from the income of businesses primarily. It's not; it's based on property values.

"When you look at the last recession, property values dropped slightly, but not very much, but what they did is just increased the rate on that property to always get the same amount, or more, in every year. You look at the provincial government or federal government when they go through a recession, their income is actually dropping and they can't change it unless they actually change the tax structure, and they'd be dead in the water if they did, so they have to learn how to deal with less money... Municipalities have never, ever had to do that."