Manitoba government freezes wages

16 posts / 0 new

Tue, 2010-02-16 16:08

genstrike

Quote:
WINNIPEG - The Selinger government drew a line in the sand today for its public sector unions in its plan to whip a projected $600 million budget deficit.

Finance Minister Rosann Wowchuk said Tuesday the province wants public employees, including its nurses, to take a two-year wage freeze.

"We're asking everybody to take a pause," Wowchuk told the Free Press. "We are in difficult times and we have to have realistic expectations."

The province is in the middle of negotiating new contracts with its nurses and starts negotiations next month with its biggest union the Manitoba Government Employees Union. Its contact expires March 26.

MGEU president Peter Olfert said he was disappointed Wowchuk is "negotiating in the media" on its position on wages.

I think this does constitute an attack on public sector workers, and it is playing into the whole idea that public sector workers have it too good and need to be taken down a notch. It's the same thing that Filmon did in the 90s - taking deficit issues out on workers. And the only reason we have this deficit is because of tax cuts which have benefitted mainly the rich and corporations

So, can we finally put to rest the notion that the NDP is a party of the working class?

Also, the MFL needs to seriously wake the fuck up and start fighting for workers instead of rolling over to the NDP. Maybe they can start working together with other movements trying to build coalitions against neoliberalism like the student movement, instead of stabbing them in the back.

Tue, 2010-02-16 16:08

genstrike

and here's the link:

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/Province-freezes-wages-844...

Tue, 2010-02-16 16:30

Fidel

[url=http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/fp/Canadian+provinces+need+books... provinces need to get books in order: Moody’s[/url]

Quote:
OTTAWA -- Canada’s provinces face deteriorating credit profiles in 2010 and must cut costs or increase taxes to get their books in order, Moody’s Investors Service said in a special report Tuesday.

The provinces aren’t at risk of having their debt downgraded, which would increase their cost of borrowing, the credit-rating agency said.

Nevertheless, a sharper-than-anticipated economic downturn and significant one-time stimulus spending initiatives are having a negative impact on debt profiles, Moody’s said.

“A sluggish recovery with continued expense pressures and increasing debt burdens will lead to deterioration in Canadian provinces’ credit profiles,” said assistant vice-president Jennifer Wong, co-author of the report.

Moody’s said it expects a modest Canadian economic recovery will not provide enough revenue growth to solve the provinces’ fiscal problems over the next few years.

For good reasons, I still can't blame the pile of shit national economy on any one provincial government, NDP or otherwise. If Canadians are finding it harder to appreciate neoliberal ideology in their daily lives for the last 35 years and coming home to roost for them today, then they should vote NDP and vote NDP often. NDP! NDP! NDP!

Tue, 2010-02-16 17:26

Unionist

Genstrike, with all due respect, your thread title is false. The Manitoba government has stated its bargaining position. It hasn't legislated a freeze or ceilings - the way the feds did last year (1.5% maximum till 2011), or the way the Schreyer government did in the 1970s (by buying into Trudeau's wage controls).

Unless and until the government uses coercive measures, it has every right to ask for what it likes. I will be more interested in hearing the unions' response.

I understand that the Free Press headline says "Province Freezes Wages", but that's not a good enough reason to repeat the same mistake here.

Wed, 2010-03-10 10:46

Politics101

A two year wage freeze was announced here in Lotusland - except for Nurses and Doctors - and already the government and a couple of public sector unions have reached new deals so once it starts in one province the precedent is set - wonder if they will try to blame the Olympics for Manitoba's budget problems like they are in BC.

Wed, 2010-03-10 11:04

Lou Arab

This is not an 'attack' on public sector workers. It's negotiations.

I hired a carpenter to build a deck for me, and negotiated a rate with him. I wanted a low rate, he wanted a higher one. Am I attacking carpenters for wanting something cheap? We each wanted to look after our interests and came to an agreement we could both live with - in otherwords, I mostly lost :)

If the government were looking for deep concessions, or massive layoffs, or as Unionist pointed noted - using legislation to enforce their position - that might be another story.

What I see here is hard bargaining in a tough economic climate.

Wed, 2010-03-10 13:08

remind

Lou how much did your deck cost you?

Relatives of ours in the Edmonton area paid about 5,000, for their deck, last spring, meanwhile we built a much nicer deck, and larger, out of better materials, even setting the structure support beams into a whole cement pad for under 1,000.

Wed, 2010-03-10 13:11

Lou Arab

remind wrote:

Lou how much did your deck cost you?

Let's just say - I don't want to talk about it.

Wed, 2010-03-10 13:39

remind

Oh dear, must have really taken you.....shoulda given us a call..... ;)

Wed, 2010-03-10 13:49

#10

Unionist

Remind - you must have had to install a handrail? That can cost as much or more than the deck, depending on how maintenance-free you want it to be for a number of years. Or does your building code require it for your height of deck?

ETA: Hey, wait a sec, Glenn Clark's face just flashed before my mind's eye... maybe we'd better return to the thread topic.

Wed, 2010-03-10 14:07

#11

remind

he actually popped into my mind too.... ;)

Anything over 3' requires sides, with spaces between enclosing structure having to be 3" or less, and handrails going down the stairs.

We kinda went over kill on the full cement below the support 6x6's, as we only had to make cement pads that they sat on and all else coulda been left grass/dirt. But we own a cement mixer and decided to go for the whole coverage, as I am extremely allergic to grass and actually want all around the house done in cement and gravel.

Wed, 2010-03-10 15:27

#12

Fidel

remind wrote:
Anything over 3' requires sides, with spaces between enclosing structure having to be 3" or less, and handrails going down the stairs.

Tell me about it. My brother and I had to re-do a whole section of railing on his deck because spaces between the vertical spindles were too far apart - wide enough for an infant's head to slip through. And the space between the top of the deck and bottom rail of the hand rail can't be so large as to allow for an infant's head to slip through either. We did curse the city inspector that day.

Wed, 2010-03-10 16:11

#13

Doug

They've run out of money and would like not to spend more next year. The beasts!

Wed, 2010-03-10 16:40

#14

Lou Arab

Unionist wrote:

ETA: Hey, wait a sec, Glenn Clark's face just flashed before my mind's eye... maybe we'd better return to the thread topic.

Given that my wife is an MLA, that's probably good advice. However, I recall the scandal being that Clark allegedly didn't pay enough for his deck. I assure you no one will ever accuse us of that.

Wed, 2010-03-10 17:06

#15

Unionist

Wed, 2010-03-10 17:41

#16

Fidel

My cousin votes Liberal and drones on about "corruption" in the NDP in B.C. After I list the real corruption of old line party governments past for him, he soon changes the subject of petty charges against Glenn Clark and what amounted to nothing at all.