Two columns offer an interesting glimpse into this round of provincial bargaining. With 55 per cent of the BC Government budget flowing into public sector salaries, wages are the key hurdle to balancing the budget in 2013, as repeatedly promised. 

In the Victoria Times Colonist, columnist Les Leyne outlines the Province’s move from a net zero mandate for the past two years to a co-operative gains mandate this time around: 

So under the "co-operative gains mandate," both sides are supposed to take searching looks at all government offices and see if they can agree on operational and staffing changes to reduce costs. Those savings could be used for modest wage increases.

(Unofficially, two per cent is the maximum expected increase likely to be approved, no matter how much savings are found.)

If the process succeeds, it would result in a somewhat magical outcome: A wage increase for the entire civil service that doesn't cost the government anything.

This certainly fits with BC Finance Minister Kevin Falcon’s desire to do “more with less,” and anything that reduces government waste is A-OK with us. Naturally, the process won’t identify superfluous staffing (gotta protect the brothers and sisters in the union!), but it’s a good step forward and will hopefully get the union leadership looking for savings. More from Leyne:

The new revenue would go a way toward raising pay - but only a small way. To provide some context, every one per cent increase in wages across the entire public sector cost $237 million. So it will take a lot of big, radical changes to free up enough cash.

And there are constraints. The government says wage hikes can't be funded through cuts in services. They can't be achieved by downloading costs to the public. And the savings have to be real and measurable.

The concept is also complicated by the fact several ministries are already taking budget cuts. Efficiencies are already being imposed just to keep up with the reductions. That means even less room for finding other savings.

We suspect the unions will tire of this process very quickly and just get back to the usual “cut-everyone-else’s-pay-to-raise-ours” mentality of increasing taxes. But we’ll see.

Meanwhile, Vaughn Palmer in the Vancouver Sun approves of the BC Liberals’ efforts on this, although he wonders if, politically, it’s too little, too late: 

The Liberals are pledged to hold the line at no net increase in compensation, offering only to share the benefits from any increases in productivity or other savings in the cost of providing existing services.
A defensible position in straightened economic circumstances and one that has been supported by a decisive segment of public opinion in the past.

But to make the case, the government needs to bring clean hands to the negotiations and people have good reason to doubt the Liberals’ good intentions on this and other matters.

Our main concern remains balancing the BC budget. We shouldn’t be spending our children’s money to cover off our choices today. If that’s something you believe in, please sign our petition.