Collective bargaining failing to meet province’s 3.5-per-cent pay cut goal REGINA

One of the core items of the province’s back-to-balancedbudget plan continues to come up short.

Last year, the province announced plans to reduce public sector compensation costs by 3.5 per cent to help combat its $1.2-billion deficit.

Then-premier Brad Wall contended setting the targeted reduction for the province’s 64,425 public sector workers would save the province $250 million, or roughly 20 per cent of the total deficit figure.

Wage rollbacks, unpaid days off and rejigging overtime pay were all considered means to achieve that end, but to date the province has come up largely short of its goal.

When the plan was first announced, 25 of the province’s 40 public sector unions already were, or were going into, negotiating contracts.

More than half — 36,877 — of public sector workers belonged to one of those 25 unions.

It soon became clear unions had no appetite for the 3.5-per-cent wage reduction. By November, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), a union representing almost 1,800 SaskPower workers, was the first to vote overwhelmingly against the rollback.

That prompted Finance Minister Donna Harpauer to tell reporters, “It’s concerning, because it’s large dollars and resource revenue is down and so we’re looking for that money ” before reiterating she was “hopeful” the target could still be achieved but that it “doesn’t look promising.”

Later that month Harpauer, in releasing the province’s mid-year financial update, conceded the compensation savings of $250 million projected in the budget would not be achievable.

Instead the province halved its goal to $125 million and said it would continue to pursue compensation savings.

But to date, the province has had little success during its negotiations with public sector unions.

Ratification voting dates have been set for a new contract between the Saskatchewan Government and General Employees’ Union (SGEU) and the province, with the deal on the table offering wage increases of zero, zero, one and two per cent over four years.

SGEU documents about the deal sent to members claim, “We waited for more than a year for a proposal on mandate, and it was not until we served notice to the Minister of Labour Relations and Workplace Safety to appoint a mediator that we received what could be considered a legitimate offer — something other than minus 3.5 per cent.”

Negotiations with teachers are currently being done through a binding arbitration process after the two sides hit an impasse. The government was initially offering a 3.5-per-cent cut in total compensation through a combination of reductions in those talks.

Deputy NDP leader Carla Beck said those negotiations, “call into question the government’s assertion that they were going to find all of these savings by mandating a 3.5-per-cent public sector wage rollback.

“Workers across the province have told them very clearly that isn’t going to happen, they’re not going to bargain concessions, so I think the government is going to have to look for another source for those dollars.”

It’s concerning, because it’s large dollars and resource revenue is down and so we’re looking for that money.