Hudak Conservatives spell out attack on public sector workers

Shades of Mike Harris, former Harris cabinet minister and current Progressive Conservative leader Tim Hudak has stepped up his attack on public sector workers.

In particular Hudak has sharpened his aim at those, like hospital workers, who do not have the right to strike and are required by law to settle collective agreements through interest arbitration.

Here's an account of Hudak's latest refinement of his position on public sector interest arbitration from the Osprey papers:

A Tim Hudak government would open up arbitration laws and make the ability of governments to pay for public sector wage settlements "one of the dominant factors" arbitrators must consider. "We need to get a better balance, so it's a fair deal for the people who are paid by taxes and for those who pay taxes," the PC leader said. "Public sector pay and benefits need to reflect private sector realities."...."I would open up the act to make sure that the taxpayers' ability to pay is one of the dominant factors that arbitrators will look at," said Hudak, MPP for Niagara West-Glanbrook. He'd also force arbitrators to consider local circumstances. "We can't continue to enforce upon less affluent communities settlements that were agreed to in the richest Ontario communities," he said. Lastly, Hudak said he'd limit the amount of time arbitrators have to make rulings.

OCHU spent four years fighting off an attack on interest arbitration by the Mike Harris' Progressive Conservative government in the late 1990s.

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