While spending millions of taxpayers dollars to advertise the virtue of single digit salary increases to its unionized employees, the Ontario Government approved increases of up to 30 per cent to direct senior level employees in the exclusive $100,000 annual salary club, the annual Public Sector Salary Disclosure list revealed.
The annual Public Sector Salary Disclosure list, also known as the “sunshine law,” was released earlier this week published the names of employees in the Ontario Public Service who draw salaries of more than $100,000 annually.
Pay raises in the Ontario justice system are particularly conspicuous. Judges were accorded 40 percent increases and crown attorneys 30 percent increases, in some cases with two-year retroactivity.
“I know some members of the “sunshine club” personally and I don’t begrudge them their wages as they carry considerable responsibilities,” said Denis Boyer, staff representative, OPSEU. “On the other hand, senior management keeps telling front line employees that they are the government’s most valuable asset and to continue performing at accelerating levels with less and less resources. The reward for the privilege of working at this burn out rate is a pitiful contract offer that is absurd in the face of the stipend given the members of the “sunshine” club.
To a large extent, the salaries of top level bureaucrats are based on the efforts of those who work below them in the hierarchy. Senior bureaucrats must fulfill performance agreements that contain targets or measures for the year. Those measures are then installed in the performance agreements in the rank and file right down to front line staff. Staff is encouraged to work diligently and targets are consistently met. Senior managers are then awarded bonuses of up to six percent above and beyond their “sunshine” salaries.
“We view this disparity as unconscionable given the Progressive Conservative government’s alleged commitment to fiscal responsibility, “ Boyer said. “At the upper echelons of this government it is all about money. The real price is a diminished, marginalized, exhausted rank and file. For the average government employee, it’s about renewal.”
OPSEU continues its job action against the provincial government seeking a new contract with a reasonable five per cent annual wage increase, the preservation of benefits the employer is attempting to remove and a commitment to renewing the public service.
