CTF Responds to CUPE News Release
Seems the CTFs “Unfair Labour Day” campaign has ruffled the feathers of some union leaders.
On Tuesday, September 6th, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) of Nova Scotia fired off a press release calling the CTF campaign slimy. Later the communications director John McCracken for CUPE NS followed up with this email to National Communications manager Scott Hennig and Atlantic Director Kevin Lacey:
| Sep 6 (1 day ago)  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
What's next from you guys? Pregnant women should be fired? It's their fault they got knocked up, right?
Your callous attempt to try and 'rebrand' Labour Day - the one day a year that working people get to actually feel good about their contributions to society - takes your tactics to a desperate new low - even for you.
Remember, cynicism is simply despair in disguise.
John McCracken
CUPE Atlantic Communications Rep.
(902) 455-4180 (o)
(902) 455-5915 (f)
(902) 880-8057 (m)
Your callous attempt to try and 'rebrand' Labour Day - the one day a year that working people get to actually feel good about their contributions to society - takes your tactics to a desperate new low - even for you.
Remember, cynicism is simply despair in disguise.
John McCracken
CUPE Atlantic Communications Rep.
(902) 455-4180 (o)
(902) 455-5915 (f)
(902) 880-8057 (m)
______________________________________
CUPE members should be ashamed of the schoolyard language from their executive. Not sure what pregnant women has to do with the fiscal problems in government. And do workers really only have one day a year to feel good about their contributions to society, many public sector workers I am sure would disagree with this.
No where does CUPE address the substance of the CTF campaign, and they don’t because the facts speak for themselves. The public service is getting bigger. It’s getting more expensive, and taxpayer’s money is going to support bigger administrations that are costing all of us through higher taxes, and increased debt.
The Facts:
- Since July 2001 the average weekly earnings of a public sector worker has grown 10 percentage points higher than the average weekly earnings of a private sector worker. Widening the gap between the public and private sector.
- Number of public sector employees with expensive defined benefit taxpayer funded pensions plans grew by 6.2% since 1977 (total number with any type of pension grew by 10.7%) while everyone else has seen a decline of 17.2% (total private sector work place pensions fell by 9.9%).
Note: all the numbers are from Statistics Canada, for more information you can find it HERE
In Nova Scotia…
- From July 2010 to July 2011, private sector employment is down 3.9%, but public sector employment growth is up 5.7%. Reference: HERE
- The number of Nova Scotia public servants earning $100,000 or more grew by 26% last year alone. This doesn’t include arms length agencies like Nova Scotia Business Inc or Nova Scotia Liquor Commission. Reference: HERE
- Total number of public servants grew by 14.2% since 2006-07. Numbers went from 9,440 in 06-07 to an estimated 10,782 in 11-12. References can be found in the NS budget documents HERE and HERE.
So using inflammatory rhetoric doesn’t change the facts…public service is getting bigger and more expensive.
Rather than write press releases CUPE should instead look at the facts and support government efforts to cut costs, reduce the deficit and lower taxes.
These principals are good for private sector workers…but they're good for public sector workers as well.