CUPE calls on province to drop plan for wage cuts

Saskatchewan’s largest labour union wants the provincial government to abandon its plan to impose a 3.5-per-cent wage cut on public sector employees this year.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees’ (CUPE), which represents about 30,000 workers in the province, said Tuesday that not one of its locals is expected to agree to the “regressive” compensation rollback.

“Our members don’t make huge amounts of money; they haven’t

Our members don’t make huge amounts of money; they haven’t seen huge raises, decent raises for a decade or so.

seen huge raises, decent raises for a decade or so,” CUPE Saskatchewan president Tom Graham said Tuesday, arguing that workers should not be punished for the government’s financial failings.

“They’re really hanging in around the inflation rate, so when they hear the government say, ‘We’re going to cut your pay by 3.5 per cent,’ they’re not very happy.”

CUPE is the third major public sector union to blast the proposal. The Saskatchewan Governmental and General Employees’ Union (SGEU) and Service Employees International Union (SEIU-West) said last week their tens of thousands of members are not likely to agree to it.

Last month, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 2067 — which represents about 1,800 SaskPower employees — became the first public sector union to formally vote down the proposed pay cut.

Graham said while IBEW’s decision is a good sign for other unionized workers in the province, there’s little question the next rounds of bargaining will be difficult and union members — whose annual salaries average around $38,000 — are concerned for their futures.

The government unveiled its plan to shave public sector wages ahead of its unpopular 2017-18 budget, which aims this year to cut a $1.2-billion deficit in half. MLAs and Crown corporation heads are among those who have accepted the cuts.

Unions have been united in opposition, leading the government to cut its compensation savings forecast in half, to $125 million from $250 million, and dip into a $300-million contingency fund included in the budget.

Newly installed Finance Minister Donna Harpauer admitted last week that the government’s attempt to impose the wage cut “doesn’t look promising,” but a government spokeswoman confirmed that the government’s plan remains unchanged.