AGTO
Banned
"You can't treat members like this and expect things to ever be the same,"
You can't treat the taxpayer like this and expect things to ever be the same.
"You can't treat members like this and expect things to ever be the same,"
From the Toronto Star:
Three sources confirmed that yesterday's wee-hours breakthrough gives workers an option: take the immediate cash, or freeze what's now in the bank and collect the payout upon retirement.
No further sick days can be accumulated, as the city moves to a short-term disability plan that provides benefits only to those who are ill or injured.
The compromise lets the city say it ended the sick-bank system, because no further days will accumulate and many workers will want the instant cash.
But it also allows the leaders of the two striking Canadian Union of Public Employees locals to say they protected the banked time of members who want to hold on to it until retirement
Robert Silver
Two weeks ago, I compared David Miller to Rob Babcock in this space. Babcock's wiki entry starts with the following line: "Rob Babcock (born ca. 1953) is an assistant general manager with the Minnesota Timberwolves of the NBA and is regarded as one of the worst GM's in NBA history."
I made the comparison between Miller and Babcock in mid-July right after Miller released the city's offer of a 7.2 per cent pay increase over four years and a partial payout of the sick-day policy. My quippy point being Miller wasn't being tough with the unions (as he claimed at the time), rather he was already giving away the farm and was a terrible negotiator.
That was then.
Presuming the report in today's Globe is correct, Miller gave the unions 6 per cent over three-years. At a time of zero-inflation. At a time when the city has no money. On top of the richest public sector union deals in the country. If every one percent pay increase represents roughly $30-million in cost, compounding annually, this is hundreds of millions of dollars in additional cost over the next three years. Again, for a city that can't afford it.
But there's more. The way labour negotiations work at the city is council delegates their authority with clear parameters to the city's labour relations committee. The labour committee (which is chaired by some guy named David Miller) then gives the city's negotiators marching orders.
So what were the parameters council gave David Miller? A 1 per cent pay increase in year one, 1 per cent in year two, 2 per cent in year three and 3 per cent in year four. That adds up to 7 per cent over four years, with the biggest increase happening in the out-year (which is important from a costing perspective). That wasn't a goal. That wasn't a "see what you can do." That was the maximum he was allowed to spend.
In other words, if the numbers in the Globe today are correct, David Miller had no authority to make this offer.
More importantly to those of you who don't care about the "rule of law" or council process, how does David Miller intend to pay for this deal?
This isn't an empty rhetorical or populist question; the city is broke. It was broke before this deal, it's more broke now. Hundreds of millions of dollars more broke.
So to summarize:
1. David Miller didn't get any concessions from the union during this strike. It was a completely wasted opportunity. If we were going to have the pain of the strike, at the very least we should have gotten some benefit from it in terms of fiscal sustainability for our city;
2. David Miller didn't have the authority to settle at the price that has been reported in today's Globe; and
3. David Miller will either have to raise taxes, cut services or go beg another level of government for money to pay for his rich deal.
I think I owe Rob Babcock an appology.
Heh. Classic. I was wonder how long it would take before somebody would phone in this misdirect.I suppose I should celebrate now that these workers can phone in with imaginary illnesses whenever they want - like lazy people in non-unionised jobs - rather than being prudent, staying healthy, and benefiting by their sound work ethic when they retire ... but I really can't.
David Miller, master negotiator
It's worth pointing out that the author of this was Gerrard Kennedy's policy director during his campaign for Liberal leadership, not some kind of troglodyte bent on destroying Toronto.
If the city caving is the case, then everyone who objects needs to contact their city councillor and demand they not pass it on Friday. Public pressure to not accept that deal would kill Miller and the Union at the same time! Toronto's doing fine without the garbage workers, so keep 'em out for another couple of months say I.