Shortly after the 2013 provincial election, Premier Christy Clark announced substantial raises for political staffers. The angry outcry, from a public fed up with the image of political fat cats living well while everyone else scrimped, quickly persuaded Clark to change her mind, and the raises were rescinded.
Now senior managers in the provincial government have quietly been given a three per cent raise, but it should not spark outrage 鈥� the raise is deserved and dramatically overdue.
In a memo to staff, John Dyble, deputy minister to the premier, said the one-time raise, which took effect March 23, does not match increases given to bargaining unit employees, but recognizes the managers have gone five years without increases.
The raise affects about 4,000 public-service employees such as executive directors and policy analysts. Their last pay raise 鈥� 2.5 per cent 鈥� was in 2009. Meanwhile, members of the sa国际传媒 Government and Service Employees鈥� Union got a four per cent raise over two years for 2012 and 2013.
The wage freeze for senior managers has hurt the civil service. These are the people who have to push through the changes initiated by the politicians. When the cabinet says do more with less, these are the people who have to figure out how to do that. They are the ones who have to get 10 gallons of results from a five-gallon bucket.
Workloads and responsibilities increased as salaries were eroded by inflation. People understandably get frustrated under those circumstances, and a lot of good people took employment in the private sector or simply retired.
The public outrage was understandable when the raises for political staffers were announced last June. The premier鈥檚 chief of staff鈥檚 maximum pay was boosted by 18 per cent to $230,000, a princely sum (compare that to the $172,000 salary paid to U.S. President Barack Obama鈥檚 chief of staff and scratch your head). The premier鈥檚 deputy chief of staff鈥檚 pay was bumped up $50,000 to $195,148.
Ministerial assistants, with their titles changed to 鈥渃hiefs of staff,鈥� were awarded an increase of 11 per cent, enabling them to earn $3,000 above the base pay of MLAs. Even before the public outcry, that was scaled back to match MLAs鈥� pay.
Even after the raises were cancelled, the salaries were still generous, several of them paid to failed Liberal candidates.
By comparison, the public-service managers earn between $48,000 and $113,000 a year.
The public is tired of seeing people in power preach restraint and austerity while helping themselves to bigger slices of the pie. The average weekly wage of British Columbians increased about 28 per cent between 2003 and 2013, while in that same period, ministerial assistants鈥� pay went up 53 per cent, MLA compensation rose 32 per cent and the premier鈥檚 pay increased 60 per cent. It creates the perception 鈥� and not an unreasonable one 鈥� of an elite out of touch with economic reality.
But the civil-service managers who received the three per cent increase are not pigs at the trough 鈥� they are more like the horses pulling the plows. Their administrative and technical skills and their hard work are what keep the province running, sometimes in spite of the politicians.
There鈥檚 the risk this modest increase will be viewed as just one more in the parade of public-money excesses that has been making the news. That would be unfair.
Save the hue and cry for custom computers, tropical junkets and $16 glasses of orange juice. We need competent and skilled managers in the public service, and they should be compensated fairly.
