Thursday, April 04, 2019
Union skeptical of need for planned wage “consultations”, but willing to talk
AMAPCEO, the union representing Ontario’s professional employees, will participate in the government’s announced “consultations” on public sector compensation, but are doing so with a degree of skepticism.
“The minister is right: Ontario’s public sector workers have earned their compensation,” AMAPCEO President Dave Bulmer said. “They’re talented civil servants who work tirelessly to plan and provide for our growing province. Quality public services require quality public servants, and quality public servants deserve fair treatment and fair compensation. We’ll be reminding this government of that every step of the way.”
During these “consultations”, AMAPCEO also intends to remind the government that the contracts the union has negotiated on behalf of its 14,000 members were done so in good faith, and that they are fair.
“Public servants have done more than their part to tackle Ontario’s deficit,” Bulmer said. “In fact, it was eliminated when the budget was balanced in 2017. This was achieved on the backs of public servants, who saw no wage increase from 2012 to 2016.”
Since then, modest wage growth has resumed, but Ontario remains the most cost-effective public service in Canada, by far.
“Couple that with recent hiring freezes and exit packages that will see thousands of public service jobs eliminated, and this proposed dialogue becomes even more mystifying,” Bulmer said.
AMAPCEO and the government have been down this road before. In 2010, then-Minister Dwight Duncan conducted a similar “consultation”. In this instance, the government had a pre-determined outcome, and as can be expected, no meaningful results were generated.
“I remain skeptical of this government’s motivations,” Bulmer said, “but I am always willing to talk.”