MPP calls for public sector wage freeze

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In conjunction with the ongoing Sunshine list disclosures, Lambton-Kent-Middlesex PC MPP Monte McNaughton repeated his call for a two-year, across the board, public sector wage freeze.

“The Municipality of Chatham-Kent has 142 people on the Sunshine list of employees making more than $100,000 per year,” said McNaughton. “Like the majority of municipalities throughout Ontario, most of these folks are police and firefighters.”

Today the Municipality of Chatham-Kent released their annual Sunshine list showing 142 employees earning more than $100,000 (up from 105 last year). The list included 59 police employees (up from 54 last year) and 52 firefighters (up from 20 last year), for a total of 78% of the list. The Chatham-Kent Health Alliance shows 41 Sunshine list employees, up from 35 last year.

“It’s not business-as-usual in Ontario, and we can’t afford business-as-usual salary increases,” said McNaughton. “This is an issue of fairness where private sector workers saw stagnant wages and big job losses, but those in the public sector have continued to see steady raises and a big expansion of jobs. In the last few years alone, Ontario’s economy has lost 300,000 manufacturing jobs while adding 300,000 government jobs.”

To address the issue of spiraling public sector costs, McNaughton and the Ontario PCs have called for a two-year, across the board, public sector wage freeze. The wage freeze would cover all Ontario broader public sector employees, without exception. Members of Provincial Parliament would also be included in the freeze along with doctors, teachers, police and fire.

“We must address the spending problem that government has, and a wage freeze is a necessary first step. We believe it must be immediate and all inclusive,” said McNaughton. “Chatham-Kent and all of southwestern Ontario have seen significant job losses and that is why it is important to properly manage Ontario’s public sector. By making these changes now, we are in fact protecting the important services provided by our first responders for the long-term.”

3 COMMENTS

  1. A wage freeze is a nice start to this embarrassing situation. A wage cap would be a more apt position. These are public servants and these salaries do not reflect this reality.

  2. If they believe that nurses, home care workers, highway maintenance crews, and other front line staff should have their salaries frozen, why don’t the Ontario PCs support the MPP Salary Freeze Act to freeze their own generous salaries until 2019?

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