Unionized city workers to see pay bump
Increases come as councillors try to prevent raising property taxes
Shane Magee
Northern News Services
Wednesday, June 1, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Two newly approved collective agreements covering most of the city's unionized employees will see them receive a pay increase over the next few years.
Eight unionized bylaw enforcement officers will see a 7.5-per-cent salary increase over four years.
The main bargaining unit with 119 permanent and 40 to 80 casual employees will see a six-per-cent increase over three years. The workers are part of the Public Service Alliance of Canada.
The city's 24 unionized firefighters - part of the International Association of Firefighters - are still in the process of reaching a new collective agreement, so no data is available.
Asked what the increases mean in dollar terms, city spokesperson Nalini Naidoo declined to provide a figure.
City council has approved the two collective agreements already.
During public meetings those figures had not been disclosed. The percentages were released Monday to Yellowknifer by Naidoo.
"It's within the parameters that we gave them to work with," said Coun. Steve Payne, though he declined to elaborate on the ranges council set out.
Salaries and benefits make up the largest single component of city spending, accounting for 36.6 per cent of the $66.7 million 2016 budget.
That document shows the city expected to have 213.58 full-time equivalent positions this year at a cost of $24.5 million. That's up from the 203.62 full-time equivalent positions in 2013, which cost the city $21.8 million.
Last month, Jeff Dalley, the city's director of corporate services, gave councillors a very early overview of the 2017 budget. It was noted within that staffing costs are expected to jump $978,000. The increase wasn't explained at the time.
For the past two budgets, council has made cuts to maintain the property tax rate, while staff has said there is pressure to increase spending to keep up with increasing costs.
Dalley's presentation - which came very early in the budget process - projected a tax increase for next year of 3.44 per cent to cover increased costs. Public input on the budget is expected to be collected prior to when councillors delve into the budget details. Council deliberates the budget in December, typically approving the final document mid-December.
The last property tax increase was in 3.11 per cent in 2014. The new collective agreements come as the territorial government is negotiating a new contract with its approximately 4,000 unionized employees who are part of the Union of Northern Workers. While talks have not yet concluded, the GNWT in publicly released documents has stated it has no funds for monetary increases this year as it deals with a budget crunch.
