Defend Public Healthcare

Earlier I noted that while the provincial government was imposing concessions (and, yes, of course, wage freezes) on unionized public sector workers, the Conference Board of Canada was predicting 2.7% increases for non-union employees in Ontario in 2013 (up from 2.6% actual increases in 2012). Now, Statistics Canada data suggests this may be part of a long term trend.  Data in a new report indicates that in Canada between 1998 and 2011 the hourly wages of full time management occupations went up 34.7% in real terms (i.e. after accounting for inflation).   The rest did much worse.  "Health occupations" saw a 3.8% real increase.  That is about a quarter of one percent per year -- management occupations did about  nine times better.  "Social Sciences, education, and government service" did worse still with a 2.5% increase over the 13 years.  Worst of all? " Occupations unique to processing, manufacturing, and utilities" at 1.5%.  Outside

The  Ontario government's report on collective bargaining agreements came out yesterday for the month of January. Naturally it included the "agreements" for school board employees.  It also included settlements in other parts of the public sector.  Although not imposed, annual wage settlements in these other parts of the public sector were also close to zero (six public administration settlements covering 36,000 employees saw an annual average wage increase of 0.1% and ten health and social service agreements covering 4,300 employees saw an average annual increase of 0.7%). In total, public sector wage settlements covering just under 309,000 employees will see an annual average wage increase during the life of the contracts of 0.0%. (Of course, the government imposed benefit concessions as well.) The government also reports private sector settlements covering 17,000 employees.  Their average annual wage increase is 2.1%. In an  updated version  of the same repo

In December, it was predicted that outgoing finance minister Dwight Duncan would   reduce his deficit forecast just before his departure (for Bay Street).  Duncan had somehow estimated in his fall economic statement that the 2012-3 deficit would be  $14.4 billion, i.e. higher than the 2011-12 deficit  -- and even higher than the 2010-11 deficit! Sure enough, Duncan lopped another $2.5 billion off the deficit in January. In 2010, the McGuinty / Duncan government started its campaign for a wage freeze in the provincial public sector, citing the state of the public books.  At that time they had estimated deficits totaling $74.2 billion from 2009/10-2012/3. Deficit (in billions of dollars) 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 Total 2010 Budget 21.3 19.7 17.3 15.9 74.2 2013 January 19.3 14 13 11.9 58.2 Reduction in Deficit 2 5.7 4.3 4.0 16.0 However, these proved unrealistic -- the act

Auditor General Jim McCarter The $1.4 billion in, mostly corporate, taxes that the Ontario Liberal government plans to walk away from (according to Auditor General), is exactly equal to the amount of money Finance Minister Dwight Duncan claims he absolutely  has to save in the first year of the so called "provincial compensation framework".   That's the government policy announced in July that led to Bill 115, the attack on free collective bargaining in the broader public sector (and, to a large extent , the end of the McGuinty government). Duncan and McGuinty practically declared the War Measures Act to get their "wage freeze" -- even though some unions started bargaining by proposing a wage freeze. But corporate taxes? Fahgettaboudit!

Dr. Michael Rachlis , a well known expert on the health care system, suggests there is more to the recent deal the province hatched with the Ontario Medical Association than has been reported. He estimates that increased utilization and "fee drift" will mean an extra $200 million for doctors.   With about 24,000 full time (equivalent) doctors in the province, that works out to an extra $8,333 each.  That is small change compared to some of the income improvements the docs have achieved over the last decade, but it is pretty significant by anybody else's measure.   Certainly it's a lot better than what the McGuinty government is offering to the rest of us further on down the pecking order (see the McGuinty government's list of concessions demands for its own workers here ) . OCHU long ago flagged the mighty increases the doctors were getting from the McGuinty government, but this was only identified through a retrospective review of annual government Budget

As expected, the McGuinty government has made a long series of concession demands at the OPSEU "OPS" negotiations, where OPSEU is bargaining on behalf of 36,000 provincial civil servants. Here is what OPSEU saw from the government on the first day: A two-year agreement. A two-year pay freeze. Creation of a new step on the wage grid 3 per cent lower than the lowest step. Reduce sick time payments after six days from 75 per cent to 66 and two-thirds per cent. Implement two unpaid days for more than six continuous absences. Ability to top up sick leave only to 75 per cent and only with vacation credits. Change benefits to a maximum annual dollar limit for all services instead of service specific caps. Increased use of temporary employees and consultants. Gutting Job Security (Article 20 and Appendix 40) Increase full-time conversion unclassified employees from 18 months to 24 months. Elimination of termination pay under Reasonable Efforts Elimina

Negotiations between the government and Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation (OSSTF) have broken off.   OSSTF vice-president,  Harvey Bischof  said  that the provincial government walked away from the bargaining table, leaving the union little choice but to step up their efforts. OSSTF is now planning job action at 20 school boards. OSSTF president Ken Coran added , “It blows me away that they ended discussions when there still were suggestions to be explored — we felt close on a number of issues." Ontario Education Minister Laurel Broten called proposed OSSTF job action “disappointing" and suggested that negotiations at the provincial level are no longer possible.  Broten also said that under Bill 115, the province has “the tools to act and will fully explore these options” as teachers begin their job actions. New Options Meanwhile, Gerard Kennedy has declared he will run to replace McGuinty as the Liberal leader, and has suggested he would take a different pa

September was a big month for collective agreement settlements in Ontario and the wage settlements fell, according to the government of Ontario .  Public sector settlements for 36,348 workers saw annual average wage increases of 0.6%.  This occurred despite higher increases for over 11,000 of these public sector workers: Two police settlements covering over 1,000 employees saw 3% annual wage increases,  Two other municipal settlements covering almost 1,000 workers got 1.9% increases, Agreements covering 4,500 academics at four universities got settlements in the 1.2% to 2.0% range, and  Three hospital settlements covering 4,800 workers simply caught up to the CUPE central hospital wage pattern achieved in 2009 (2%). Most of the other settlements in the broader public sector saw zip over their term.  Despite this, the Liberal party saw fit to call for legislation ( The Protecting Public Services Act ) at the end of September that would have stopped free collective bargainin

Both of the key architects of the Liberal government's attack on free collective bargaining are as good as gone.  McGuinty will be gone January 26 and Finance Minister Dwight Duncan has indicated he will likely be gone from the Finance Ministry right about the same time. The labour movement can take a big part of the credit for that.  The Liberal party  went into free fall in the polls  after the labour movement began to respond in kind to the attack on free collective bargaining in late August. Worse, the Libs got themselves into this despite getting a long string of broader public sector settlements with two years of zeroes through free collective bargaining and normal interest arbitration.  What was it all for? (True, municipal settlements have varied, but municipal circumstances also vary.   In any case, most municipal bargaining would not be affected by the Liberal proposals.) Sandra Pupatello So, the Liberal leadership candidates have to determine whether the

Before the Liberals started attacking collective bargaining, they proposed a wage freeze in the summer of 2010.  The unions duly met with the government over the summer of 2010 to discuss this. While there was no agreement, settlements funded by the province have now moderated significantly. But since that time the Liberals have sharpened their attack significantly, crushing free collective bargaining in the school board sector and starting plans to do the same in the broader public sector.  They have also increased their demands from a wage freeze to cuts in compensation. So what caused the Liberals to go postal in the interim? Well, it wasn't the province's fiscal situation. In the 2010 provincial Budget (just before the summer meetings with unions), the province planned deficits of  $21.3 billion in 2009-10, $19.7 billion in 2010-11, $17.3 in 2011-12, and $15.9 billion in 2012-3 billion. Deficit (in billions of dollars) 2009–10 2010–11 201

The Ontario Liberal government's brand was built on creating social consensus after the harsh discord of the previous Mike Harris Progressive Conservative government.  That worked well for the Liberals until this past few months when they moved to crush free collective bargaining and unilaterally impose not just a wage freeze but also benefit concessions on teachers and other school board workers. That attack on free collective bargaining, run apparently by Finance Minister Dwight Duncan, was disastrous for the Liberals.  It was completely contrary to their brand and what they had stood for.  They are now a distant third in the polls, with a miserable 20% support.   Prior to this attack, they moved within the 35% to 27% range during 2012, tagging in at over 30% in August.  The major beneficiary of the Liberal decline has been the NDP, who are now tracking close to the PCs. The Liberal decline also destroyed their bargaining power in the legislature with the PCs and the NDP