August 9, 2008

Consequences from Campbell's Obscene Pay Hikes

The announcement of obscene pay increases for selected executive level employees came in the form of an Information Bulletin from the Ministry of Advanced Education and Labour Market Development. The BC Public Service Agency was also noted under the Ministry's name, but according to the website for the BC Public Service Agency, it is accountable "to an executive board and, through them, the Province's Deputy Ministers' Council." In other words, the Public Service Agency is another body that really is part of the Office of the Premier. The Manager of Information and Privacy for the Office of the Premier also happens to be the Manager for the Public Service Agency. That makes it similar to other government bodies, like the Public Affairs Bureau and the Climate Action Secretariat, that nominally report respectively to the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of the Environment, but are really run directly by the Premier's Office. Part of the reason for the silly games with the organization chart is to make the budget for the Premier's Office look much lower than it really is.

A truly open government would make public the "careful examination of the senior public service labour market" that it says was undertaken as justification for the obscene pay increases. According to the news release, the pay hikes are needed to maintain "competitiveness in recruiting and retaining the talent necessary to lead the public service". One might therefore expect an open government to have reports at hand that discuss recruitment and retention challenges, as well as evidence from recent postings for executive staff of any difficulties in obtaining qualified applications. Freedom of information requests have been submitted for such reports, but the Campbell government's track record on responding to such requests makes a joke of the law which requires documents to be produced within 30 business days.

Whether the Campbell government can adequately defend the pay increases, or not, it is certain that they will not be isolated. The Public Service Agency website lists salary schedules for all government staff, unionized and excluded. In addition to assistant deputy ministers, associate deputy ministers and deputy ministers, excluded staff include judges, officers of the legislature, ministerial staff, legal counsel and various levels of managers. Does anyone think that the folks at the top of the salary pyramid can rush like hogs to the trough without everyone else saying that they want historical relationships to be restored? When Minister of Advanced Education Murray Coell defended the increases of up to 43%, which are estimated to cost $4 million per year, he estimated that there are 20 deputy ministers and 80 assistant deputy ministers. He failed to mention the thousands of other excluded staff who will now demand equal treatment.

The Campbell government should come clean with the public and demonstrate whether recruitment and retention is any more of a problem for ADMs and deputies than it is for nurses and other skilled workers, many of whom are covered by collective agreements where government wouldn't dream of a 43% salary lift.

August 8, 2008

Campbell's Bureaucrats Get Massive Pay Hike

In 2006 median family income in BC was $62,600 (for all types of families); by definition that means half of BC families had less than that as total family income and half had more. On average, it took more than one income to earn that family income. Lone parent families in BC had median incomes of $31,700 in 2006.

Keep the incomes of the population in mind when you consider what Premier Gordon Campbell gave his senior staff this week.

On Friday, the day frequently used for news they want to hide, the Campbell government announced massive pay increases for the highest paid bureaucrats. Approximately 100 assistant deputy ministers and deputy ministers will receive pay increases retroactive to August 1st between $35,000 per year and $105,000 per year! Relative to the population, those increases are between one and three times the total average annual personal income of the people who pay taxes to support those pay hikes.

Sean Holman of Public Eye Online quickly noted that the Campbell government previously announced pay increases for its senior bureaucrats on July 21, 2006. At that time, after giving increases from $18,000 per year for deputies to almost $50,000 per year for assistant deputies, the government said that salaries would be reviewed again in four years. Just two years later those at the top were back at the trough for another increase.

This is a vicious circle. Soon the politicians will say that it is unfair that they make so little compared to their senior bureaucrats, even though Campbell awarded himself a 54% pay increase with annual indexing and a gold plated pension in June 2007. Meanwhile the Campbell Liberals insist that a minimum wage of $10 per hour would be outrageously high. Working 40 hours per week, $10 per hour translates to $20,800 per year, or less than 6% of what the Deputy Minister to the Premier will make as of August 1, 2008. Of course, thanks to Campbell, while his Deputy will have a pay ceiling of $348,600 (plus pension and benefits), those currently earning $8 an hour can only dream of a raise to $10 an hour.

It wasn't enough to announce this picking of the taxpayers' pockets on a Friday. Campbell chose to have the announcement made on the Friday of the opening ceremonies of the summer Olympics when he was safely away in Beijing. He must be hoping the story will be old news by the time he returns from his trip where his mind must be on how Beijing's "bird cage" with thousands of performers will make the BC Place Stadium look, assuming its roof doesn't collapse during the 2010 games.

Perhaps Campbell should turn his mind to the hundreds of thousands of British Columbians who make less per year than just the amount of the increase in salary he has awarded senior bureaucrats. The August 1st, 2008 pay hikes are yet more proof that the Campbell government has become arrogant and out of touch.