by Carol Goar - from the Toronto Star
Statistics Canada signalled a historic shift in the labour force this week. For the first time since it started counting (1918), a majority of Canadians with workplace pensions are on the public payroll.
Statistics Canada signalled a historic shift in the labour force this week. For the first time since it started counting (1918), a majority of Canadians with workplace pensions are on the public payroll.
Last week, two pay raises in the public sector made headlines: first, word leaked out of city hall that Toronto police had negotiated a four-year, 11.5 per cent pay raise, despite a projected budget deficit of $800 million in 2012; then news filtered out of Queen’s Park alleging that provincial civil servants had negotiated a 3 per cent wage hike next year, despite Premier Dalton McGuinty’s 2 per cent cap.
Nine days ago, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation issued a post-election bulletin reminding everyone that the 113 MPs who were defeated on May 2 or did not seek re-election would be getting golden handshakes worth as much as $2.8 million.
These are just the latest signs of a sharp divide between the 20 per cent of workers employed by the government and the 80 per cent who make their living in the private sector.
This issue has been simmering for a decade. The recession turned up the heat. It’s now close to a boil.
During the economic downturn, pay rates continued to climb in the public sector. Private-sector workers — those who hung onto their jobs — agreed to wage freezes and benefit rollbacks to keep their employers afloat.
Businesses left vacancies unfilled while public agencies continued to hire.
Doctors who had been lured to the United States by lucrative pay and benefit packages discovered how fragile these arrangements were in a privately funded health-care system and came back to Canada.
MBA graduates, who’d once aspired to become high-flying corporate executives and financiers, increasingly ranked careers in the public service as their top choice.
Teachers, bureaucrats and heads of public institutions became society’s “haves.”
None of these developments was discussed during last month’s election campaign. But governments will have to address them now, whether they like it or not.
No comments:
Post a Comment