Senior management bonuses insult front line workers - NSGEU

'Our members ... have been buckling under the pressure of increased workloads.' - Martha Brown

Halifax (22 Feb. 2006) – The Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union (NSGEU/NUPGE) is making its case this week before an arbitration board, calling for decent pay increases for front line public employees.

The union says money spent by the province's Conservative government rewarding senior bureaucrats with “pay for performance” bonuses could be put to better use helping lower level employees who deal more directly with the public.

Martha Brown, acting union president, says the senior bonuses are an insult to employees who have fought through negotiations over the past two years, and the previous round of talks, to gain a decent increase to support themselves and their families.

“It makes no sense to us that a group of senior bureaucrats are so handsomely rewarded for the hard work and dedicated service of front line NSGEU civil service members who do the real work for the residents of Nova Scotia,” says Brown.

“It’s hard to believe that the Hamm government can justify unilaterally rewarding senior bureaucrats with bonuses of upwards of $17,000, when it offered front line civil servants a 2.25% increase during the course of negotiations.”

Hearings Feb. 20-22

The union has been presenting its case on behalf of 5,800 public employees at arbitration board hearings Feb. 20-22.

Brown says the bonuses for the deputy minister and assistant deputy minister, in the department of community services alone, account for close to $32,000 – more than the full annual salary of some of the staff members in their department and certainly more than what social assistance clients can receive even with a number of children.

“Our members who work for the department of community services have been buckling under the pressure of increased workloads and have called for additional resources since May 2002," she says.

"To add insult to injury, the department recently introduced a toll-free number and a new phone protocol without even considering the need for additional staff resources. This is just one of many, many examples where increased resources are needed on the front lines to provide the type of services Nova Scotians expect and deserve from this government.” NUPGE