No public sector raises until budget is balanced: Prentice
Tory Leader Jim Prentice made a show of his cost- cutting credentials Wednesday, promising that a re- elected Progressive Conservative government won’t hand out any new raises to public sector workers until the budget is balanced.
Under fire from the Wildrose Party for not cutting enough in last month’s provincial budget, Prentice said the PCs are committed to a smaller and more efficient Alberta government with their plan to essentially hold the line on spending over the next three years and return to surplus by 2017- 18.
As part of the austerity push, Prentice said the Tories would impose a three- year wage freeze on management salaries and a new hiring restraint policy, as well as taking a harder line on union contracts.
“We will stand firm and insist on wage freezes in any contract negotiations until we get the Alberta government back in balance, until we have our budget back in balance,” he told a crowd of about 80 PC supporters.
Prentice said that as premier he “inherited” substantial wage increases in public- sector contracts he can do nothing about but almost all will come open in the next three years.
“We intend to approach this in a respectful way but the financial circumstances of the province of Alberta are clear and we have to be realistic,” he said.
But Guy Smith, president of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees, said he’s concerned that Prentice is showing “a complete lack of respect” to the collective bargaining process.
He noted that Prentice had indulged in similar tough talk around union contracts earlier this year before striking a more conciliatory tone.
“Now to come full force again, it’s a sign he’s trying to curry favour with Wildrose voters. And I don’t think it’s going to work,” said Smith.
AUPE’s main contract with the provincial government doesn’t expire until 2017. However, about 24,000 general support staff within Alberta Health Services are currently without a contract.
The Alberta Teachers’ Association’s current contract expires in 2016.
ATA president Mark Ramsankar noted his members will get a two per cent raise this fall after taking zeros for three years under a contract legislated when high oil prices were filling government coffers.
Prentice throwing down the gauntlet during an election campaign “isn’t going to go down very well at all” with the ATA’s 40,000 members, said Ramsankar.
Prentice called the election to seek a mandate for the budget, which imposes a series of new tax hikes and holds the line on spending, while still projecting a record $ 5- billion deficit as Alberta grapples with oil prices that have plunged since last fall.
He said the government is taking on “no small task” by reducing spending by $ 8.6 billion compared to the normal rate of growth — population growth plus the annual rate of inflation — over the next three years.
The premier also pledged the PCs will eliminate 80 of 320 provincial agencies, boards and commissions by the end of the current fiscal year.
The Tories are also promising to create new “efficiency teams” of front- line workers within each government department to make recommendations to cabinet on how to cut waste.
“The work of the efficiency teams will not get buried somewhere,” said Prentice.
“We will hear what people have to say ... we will not allow the recommendations of these efficiency teams to be filtered or watered down.”
NDP Leader Rachel Notley blasted Prentice for targeting front- line health care and education workers when Alberta hospitals and schools are already stretched thinly.
“Prentice promised in his televised address to treat public sector workers with respect,” Notley said in a statement. “But now he’s going back on is word, again sparking conflict by making collective bargaining a partisan election issue.”
In a news release, Wildrose Leader Brian Jean said Prentice’s announcement contained no substantive details about how the Tories would cut.
Previous attempts at wage freezes by the PCs have been quickly reversed, Jean noted.
“There’s no way to guarantee they won’t do it again,” he said.