Campbell Meddles in Collective Bargaining

Premier Gordon Campbell appears to have pushed Finance Minister Carole Taylor aside and taken personal control of the government's collective bargaining. That's a big mistake. While everyone knows that the buck stops with the Premier, wise governments save the intervention of the First Minister as the last step. That protects the Premier and allows him to take credit for correcting mistakes if negotiations have gone off the rail.

On Friday, January 20th, when most political junkies were focused on the final days of the federal election, a news release from the Office of the Premier announced that "The Office of the Premier has retained Lee Doney as Special Advisor, Labour Bargaining. Reporting to the deputy minister to the Premier, the special advisor will assist the government as it begins a series of negotiations to reach labour contract agreements covering 90 per cent of public sector workers."

Doney, who is widely respected, will no doubt be of assistance in what will likely be challenging negotiations, but he should not be reporting to the Premier's Deputy. The parties who are facing the Employers' Council and Ministry of Finance will no doubt be delighted with this announcement as it means their demands are transmitted directly to the top rather than having to deal with underlings. Doney can expect to hear that the $1 billion that the government has put on the table for settlements before March 31st should be carried over to future fiscal-years. It isn't constructive for bargaining to conduct opinion polls on what it would take for the public to support "contracts" imposed by legislation. Ipsos-Reid will not confirm or deny that it did such research for the government.

The government's timing of Doney's appointment suggests that it is treating the announcement as bad news. With no reflection on Mr. Doney, the circumstances and reporting responsibility make that understandable.