The move comes as nurses, teachers and other provincial employees grapple with or prepare for contract talks. The province’s doctors also are locked in a fierce year-long fight with the government over their fees.
Alberta Finance minister and Treasury Board president Doug Horner said the freeze to managers signals the government is serious about scaling back spending in the face of plummeting resource revenues.
“What you would want to take from the salary freeze is the fact that this government’s resolve and this premier’s resolve is very solid and that would be certainly an indication of where we would like to see things go,” Horner said.
The freeze on general wages affects about 4,800 workers, including deputy ministers, managers and specialists such as engineers and veterinarians. It takes effect on April 1. Collectively, the changes will save an estimated $54 million over three years, Horner said.
Horner delivered the news on the same day he reported the third-quarter financial results for 2012-13 which put the province on track for a deficit as high as $4 billion, which will have to covered by the province’s dwindling sustainability fund.
While other details of the 2013-14 budget remain secret until March 7th, Horner said the government felt it was important to deliver the message on wages immediately.
Many of the employees covered by Tuesday’s announcement were expecting a two-per-cent raise, a figure based on the Consumer Price Index. Those same senior officials received a four-per-cent pay hike in the current fiscal year after a freeze for the previous three years.
A bonus program will remain suspended, but a manager not at the top of their pay grid could increase their wage if the position is reclassified.
The approximately 480 job cuts will come through retirements and program changes, Horner said.
In a memo to government employees issued Tuesday afternoon titled “Fiscal Challenges,” Executive Council deputy minister Peter Watson said that public servants have a duty to provide options that help the government deal with emerging problems.
“Given that more than 40 per cent of our budget is for public-sector salaries, we must deal with the growth in public-sector salaries,” Watson wrote.
Liberal Leader Raj Sherman said that his party has long said the government has “too many managers managing managers.”
Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith said the plan to cut managers by 10 per cent does not go far enough. Smith noted the ratio of staff to managers in government is four to one, compared to a private-sector ratio of more than ten to one. “You’d need to cut management by 50 per cent if you’re actually serious about reforming the way the public service works,” she said.
Both questioned what the government’s intention are for other public-sector workers.
“Stay tuned to the budget on March 7th,” Horner said. “What ministers are doing is making some very tough choices. I would not want to prejudge where they’re going with some of their decisions. Obviously, if some programs are moved or eliminated, that’s going to mean you’re going to lose some people in those areas.”
Alberta Health Services president and CEO Chris Eagle said in a statement Tuesday that his agency, which employs more than 100,000 people, will make recommendations about its budget to its board of directors on March 14th.
The health authority no longer expects to receive a 4.5-per-cent increase as planned, he said. “While we do not have details, it is reasonable to expect that difficult decisions need to be made,” he said.
A spokesman for the Alberta Medical Association said Tuesday the organization was not commenting on Horner’s warning.
Alberta Union of Provincial Employees president Guy Smith said while the government had the right to publicly signal its financial goals, unions have the right to a free collective-bargaining process.
“There’s certainly no room for cuts on the front line and I think they could redeploy those opted-out folks to the front lines to help,” Smith said. “We’re telling people stay calm, we’ll negotiate and we get to where we end up getting to.”
Leaders of both the Alberta Teachers’ Association and the United Nurses Association of Alberta said that it was frustrating for members to hear politicians talk of freezes and unfulfilled spending commitments when they are not considering revenue reform in the same breath.
Wages are only one of the issues that nurses and teachers are concerned about.
“Things like health, education and other public services should not be precariously budgeted based on non-renewable resources,” UNA president Heather Smith said. “The words coming out of this messaging are really, ‘We want you to do more with less, because we’ve had a population increase of close to 100,0000.’ ”
Original Article
Source: edmontonjournal.com
Author: Sarah O'Donnell
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