Bill 37 - Wage Rollbacks

May 3, 2004

Solidarity

Labour historians must smile over the events of BC's May Day weekend. On Sunday, May 2nd, President of the BC Federation of Labour, Jim Sinclair, emerged as the leader who kept the province from walking off a cliff. Premier Gordon Campbell was left shouting "Wrong …, wrong …, wrong…" in manner typical of his inability to be gracious.

Hotheads on both sides of the Bill 37 dispute would have tarnished BC's chances for economic recovery. Sinclair and his supporters have been attacked by extremists within labour who see a general strike as the answer to all problems. Campbell probably faced similar attacks from those who would take no prisoners from organized labour, those who would not be happy unless a martyr was in prison. Of course, Campbell was probably one of those extremists only to be reined in by the dozens of MLAs who feared losing their seats. Political scientist Norman Ruff predicted that the Bill 37 fiasco will cost the Campbell Liberals 15 seats.

The test for the Campbell government will come on May 17, 2005. Most people know that Campbell has taken BC to an extreme. Anyone with a sense of fairness was offended by retroactive legislation that attacked people making less than $40,000 per year. What kind of political smarts does it take to lay someone off, and then demand hundreds of dollars back after pay is retroactively cut through legislation? Hundreds of thousands of British Columbians sensed that was wrong, and in their opposition they helped pull the government back from the brink.

The time to deal with the Campbell agenda will be on May 17, 2005. It is better to organize a parliamentary opposition to a presumed dictatorship, than to ignore the rule of law and encourage anarchy, but the events of the weekend show that solidarity and the threat of civil disobedience is sometimes necessary to stop a bully.

April 30, 2004

More Layoffs in Exchange for No Retro Wage Cuts?

Faced with escalating political protest over his unprecedented wage rollback legislation, Premier Gordon Campbell appeared live on Global TV's noon broadcast to answer questions on what he is prepared to do. His answers made the situation worse. Campbell referred to a provision in Bill 37 that provides for arbitration and said that all the problems could be solved if the union went to the bargaining table and used that provision. Campbell told a lot of half truths.

Bill 37 provides for longer work hours, valued at 4%, plus either a wage cut of 11% or a wage cut of 10% if the union opts for the arbitration clause. Arbitration is not open ended. The arbitrator must produce a settlement that reduces employer costs by 10%. When Campbell said the arbitrator could eliminate the much criticized retroactive provision, it means that workers could buy back the retroactivity by taking deeper cuts elsewhere. Campbell gave an example saying that by eliminating one week of vacation time and increasing the workweek to 40 hours, there would be no reduction in wages. What he didn't say is that would mean between 3,000 and 4,000 workers would lose their jobs. That is exactly what the workers fear most, and it is why protests are occurring.

NDP leader Carole James has called on Campbell to recall the legislature for a special sitting on Saturday, May 1st. James proposed three very moderate amendments to the legislation:

1) Removing the extremely harsh imposition of retroactive wage cuts that would see employees-including those who have already received lay-off notices-forced to pay back wages received since the expiration of the former collective agreement.
2) Extending the transition period during which the wage reduction would apply, giving employees-the vast majority of whom are women, many of whom are single parents-more time to adjust to a 15 percent reduction in their pay.
3) Providing that should health care unions opt for the arbitration clause in the Act, that the arbitrator be mutually agreeable to the employer and the Union.

It is hard to find anything in James' proposal that wouldn't receive public support, but the hard line position articulated by Campbell on Global TV is that any elimination of retroactivity must be paid for by the union with further cuts or layoffs. That's why more services will be behind protest lines on Monday.

April 29, 2004

Bill 37 - Destabilizing Health Care

The Campbell government claims that its attack on hospital workers will "save" $200 million per year. That is the same amount as the tax cuts that were given to people who make over $250,000 per year. The dispute is not about health care; it is about taking money from thousands of low paid workers in order to compensate for $200 million in tax cuts that was given to the top 8,000 income earners.

Premier Gordon Campbell's back to work legislation sets a new BC record; never before has any legislation rolled back workers' wages by over 10%. Despite rhetoric on how much BC hospital workers earn relative to other jurisdictions, how many workers can afford an unplanned for 10% cut in pay? Thousands of health care workers will have trouble paying their rent and making ends meet. Some will lose their homes.

There is no limit to the number of workers who will lose their jobs, only to be offered to be rehired at $10.25 an hour. The cut is not 10%, but as much as 40% for those workers. What would most people do if their pension cheques were suddenly cut by 10 - 40%? If the government can get away with cutting health care workers' cheques by that amount, nothing stops them from cutting pension cheques by the same amount!

When 9-11 struck, airports discovered that they could not rely on security workers who were paid such low wages. The same applies to health care workers. People who make starvation wages will constantly be looking for a better job. Hospitals need a stable workforce. The Campbell government has destabilized health care.