Saskatoon StarPhoenix

History shows Moe’s 1,250 layoffs to pay for PST cut unworkable

- MURRAY MANDRYK Larissa Shasko is a political activist, student at the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy and former leader of the Green Party of Saskatchew­an. Mandryk is the political columnist for the Regina Leader-Post.

A longtime civil servant has an interestin­g tale of how she was laid off, but rehired even before her severance ran out.

It was back in 2010, shortly after former premier Brad Wall first announced his 15-per-cent reduction of the civil service over four years.

Her boss — whom she described as a gung-ho political appointee — proudly proclaimed he would be the first to make good on the Saskatchew­an Party government’s goal, and promptly fired two people in his small unit.

The woman, who asked not to be identified, said she was one of them (although she said she believes the firing had more to do with personal difference­s over harassment with her boss who, ironically, would also later be fired by the government).

The other person let go was also a woman, who would quickly find her way to another government department. And the woman herself had to be re-hired by the fall of 2010, because it was discovered others could not do her work.

Neverthele­ss, the Saskatchew­an Party says its 2010 15-per-cent reduction strategy was very successful, insisting that it met its goal. The Saskatchew­an Labour Force Survey, which measures the number of people who actually work for the provincial government, says otherwise ... although what should mostly be said is this issue is anything but clear.

Here are those labour force survey numbers: 2010, 11,000 provincial government employees; 2011, 10,900; 2012, 11,600; 2013, 11,000; 2014, 11,800; 2015, 10,700; 2016, 10,900; and 2017, 10,500.

These numbers — which would include organizati­ons like the Workers’ Compensati­on Board and the Saskatchew­an Liquor and Gaming Authority — actually suggest the Wall government attrition program was a failure, with fewer than one-per-cent total job reductions after six years and only a 4.5-per-cent reduction after seven years. And given that many Saskatchew­an civil service reductions seemed to have been achieved via separate initiative­s like privatizin­g both liquor stores and government building custodial services in the last two provincial budgets, the 2010 austerity measures would seem that much less successful.

It is with this in mind that new Saskatchew­an Premier Scott Moe has some more explaining to do when it comes to his plan to reduce the Saskatchew­an civil service by 1,250 jobs.

Moe announced 10 days ago his plans to make good on his leadership campaign promise reversing the 2017-18 budget decision to apply the six-per-cent provincial sales tax to farm, life and health insurance. It is a commitment accompanie­d by a $185-million price tag — $65 million in the current budget year, plus an additional $120-million cost to the 2018-19 budget to be unveiled April 10. As such, this was by far Moe’s biggest leadership campaign promise, outdistanc­ing his commitment to restore $30 million in education.

What wasn’t perfectly clear until a couple of days after the announceme­nt was that Moe and Finance Minister Donna Harpauer would make up the money by cutting 1,250 jobs.

Of course, the move made the usual suspects who cheer the Sask. Party austerity policies giddy, including the Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation and the Canadian Federation of Independen­t Business, which proudly proclaimed the move had the support of 93 per cent of its membership. Their tone was virtually indistingu­ishable from the vitriolic rhetoric of happy Sask. Party members, often convinced we have too many civil servants.

But while one has come to expect the CFIB and CTF to be in lockstep with the Sask. Party in the same way the Saskatchew­an Federation of Labour joins the NDP in vehement opposition to cuts, there are unanswered questions: How exactly do Moe and the Sask. Party intend to accomplish this? What would be the impact? Have such massive cuts worked in the past?

What Harpauer and Moe have done is quietly unveil what would amount to an immediate 12-percent cut to the civil service after an already tough 2017-18 budget.

Moreover, Wall couldn’t pull off a similar cut via what seemed to be a more well-thought-out plan. As per the case of the aforementi­oned woman, even less grandiose layoff plans have a way of unravellin­g over time.

Moe and Harpauer had better explain which 1,250 civil servants they now intend to cut.

 ??  ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Canada