Liberal leader says province is making non-unionized workers shoulder financial burden
SYDNEY — Liberal Leader Stephen McNeil says the province is asking non-unionized employees to shoulder more of the burden for the government’s financial plight than unionized employees.McNeil made the comment Wednesday during a meeting with the Cape Breton Post editorial board, a wide-ranging discussion that included the province’s $590-million deficit, energy growth and a forgotten tax review.
“An employee is an employee is an employee, and they should be treated equally,” said McNeil. “Historically what’s happened in this province is when a negotiation has happened, the non-union group were historically given what was negotiated with the unionized employees.”
McNeil said the province’s one per cent cap has been expanded beyond civil servants to include other public sector non-unionized employees.
He produced a directive from Treasury Board through the deputy minister of education announcing that all non-bargaining staff — both management and non-management — are limited to a one per cent increase instead of a scheduled 2.9 per cent hike.
The directive applies to all government enterprises and government bodies such as Crown corporations, district health authorities and school boards.
The cap will be applied over the next two fiscal years in recognition of the province’s financial situation.
“It’s asking non-unionized Nova Scotians to pay a bigger price to get us out of this debt,” McNeil said. “They need to be treating all Nova Scotians equally across the board.”
Under the previous Tory government, Nova Scotia Teachers Union members were granted a 2.9 per cent increase in each year of a three-year contract and many union workers already received a pay bump in April.
McNeil said the province is adding to its deficit, not reducing it. He criticized a decision to forgo a comprehensive tax review that was first announced in the spring of 2008 and delayed by the June provincial election.
“No one’s talking about growing the economy,” he said. “We can’t just look at the tax system as a cash cow to solve the deficit problem without looking at how it’s going to affect the economy a year from now, two years from now, three years from now.”
McNeil said Nova Scotia is still lagging behind in its work to capitalize on energy development through Newfoundland’s proposed Lower Churchill hydroelectric project.
He said Nova Scotia should consider an energy purchase agreement with Newfoundland and Labrador in exchange for an energy transmission corridor to Cape Breton.
If this province does not build its renewable energy infrastructure, it may risk losing energy capital to other provinces such as New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, he said.
Source: The Cape Breton Post online, story by Erin Pottie, Thursday, November 26, 2009.
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