This province used to have a welldeserved reputation for damaging labour disputes, but perhaps that will change if it hasn't already.
Tuesday, Finance Minister Mike de Jong announced three five-year tentative agreements with approximately 51,000 public sector workers. The contracts have still to be ratified by the unions involved, but the indications are that will happen.
As de Jong noted, the tentative agreements are noteworthy for two reasons: the lengthy five-year term and the fact that they were negotiated some five months before existing contracts expired.
Remember too that a tentative new contract with 16,000 health employees was also signed in November.
All of the deals average out to pay increases in the order of one per cent a year, but the contracts are back-loaded, giving the provincial government a little more wiggle room in the first two years while it tries to achieve balanced budgets.
All four contracts offer the possibility of more pay to the workers in the form of an "economic stability dividend." Essentially, if the province's gross domestic product rises more than predicted in official forecasts, the union members get an additional increase. If actual growth rises one point more than was predicted, employees would receive an increase of 0.5 per cent.
This is unusual but creative thinking on the part of the government negotiators who essentially said: We can't give you any more now, but if you sign and things improve with natural gas and all, we'll share the wealth.
We applaud the concept, but point out that it could be extended to a true carrot-and-stick stake in the economic health of the province if wages were reduced should the GDP fall below what was forecast.
Hey, why not tie a portion of MLA salaries to the number of days the legislature actually sits.
