VICTORIA: The BC division of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) today responded to government union protests at the BC Legislature and noted that studies produced by various sources including the former NDP government - all show that B.C. government employees received significant wage increases in the 1990s and have higher average pay than similar private sector jobs and better job security. The CTF also announced that it will direct-mail a fact sheet about the cost of B.C's government to as many British Columbians as possible.

"By any measure - and according to studies produced by BC Stats while New Democrats ran British Columbia, and according to the NDP's own negotiator and according to the NDP's own reports, and by the federal government - provincial government employees in B.C. are well-paid even after age, education, unionization and other factors are accounted for, and better-paid on average than the private sector who ultimately pays the bill" said CTF-BC director Mark Milke.


FACTS ON THE PUBLIC SECTOR IN BRITISH COLUMBIA:

Between 1992 and 1994, the average BCGEU member received a $4,476 raise - not including benefits. This according to the NDP government's own negotiator and NDP supporter Jo Surich. (Source: "Public union settlements are private and lucrative," Vancouver Sun, March 4, 2000.)

Overall in the 1990s, the average BCGEU member received a 20% raise. Also, the NDP agreed to boost many workers into higher pay grids for doing the same job, which meant the average BCGEU member actually received a 33% raise over that decade. Some classifications saw raises of up to 40%. (Source: "Public union settlements are private and lucrative," Vancouver Sun, March 4, 2000.)

Despite the so-called and phony "zero, zero and two" wage freeze between 1998 and 2001 in British Columbia, the total wage bill for the public sector rose by to $13 billion in 2001 from $11.7 billion in 1998. This from the former NDP government's own analysis in 2000 (Source: Ministry of Finance/ Treasury Board, April 2000.)

BC Stats reported that in 2001 "public sector workers were generally well-paid, receiving an average of $797 weekly, which was 28% higher than the all-industry average. The standard workweek for hourly-paid employees was 35 hours, which was also somewhat longer than the provincial average of 31 hours. Federal ($821 weekly) and provincial ($822 weekly) government employees received relatively similar pay packets on average."

BC Stats also noted that between 1990 and 1998, government workers in BC were "not very likely to experience unemployment" and that "the jobless rate in government services averaged 4%, less than half the provincial rate of 9%."
(Source: From the provincial governments' StatsBC website, released in 2001 and based on 2000 data. "A Guide to the BC Economy and Labour Market", Lillian Hall, BC Stats.)

From the federal government funded study, from Canadian Policy Research Networks:
(Gunderson, Hyatt, Riddell, June 2000) - after taking into account age, education, occupation, and union membership. On how much more provincial government workers across Canada are paid on average compared to the private sector:

-"An estimated overall average premium of 7.6% for government employees varies moderately within most subsectors of the public sector, from highs of 11.4% in provincial governments, 10.3% in local governments and 9.2% in transportation and communication, to around 7% in the federal government-."

Taxpayers are spending $240 million for severance packages for government workers to be laid off in B.C. (Source: Public Sector Employee Relations Commission fact sheet, January 17, 2001.)

There are 342,000 full-time and part-time federal, provincial, and municipal government and Crown corporation employees in B.C. according to Statistics Canada. (The Daily , December 13, 2001). The predicted layoffs in 2002 amount to 1,242 - or 1/3rd of 1% of that number.

"The facts are clear: government employees in B.C. make much more on average than the private sector employees who pay the bill. Meanwhile, real income in the private sector declined in B.C. in the 1990s according to Statistics Canada" said Milke. "If anyone should demonstrate at the Legislature today, it should be taxpayers who just had their taxes hiked this past week to pay for those now wrecking the Legislature lawn."

The CTF also announced that it will direct-mail a fact sheet to as many British Columbians as possible. Those interested in donating to that direct mail campaign are invited to donate online to the CTF at www.taxpayer.com.