VICTORIA – The British Columbia government has given approval for 821 employees to take off one unpaid day a week as part of a pilot project to save money.
The number is higher than the 650 who the Tyee reported had registered for the program by Friday morning, but with the application process now closed it is still far short of earlier projections.
“I'm not certain what to make of the number,” said Stephen Howard, a spokesperson for the B.C. Government and Services Employees' Union. “There were a wide range of concerns I heard from members.”
Some employees were concerned managers would see them as inessential if they said they could take the time off without an impact to government service, he said. Others worried about leaving their colleagues with an increased work load, having to do the same amount of work in less time or being able to afford the pay cut, he said.
Others were happy to have more time off, he said.
It would be interesting to know how many people applied to participate but were refused because their absence from work would make it difficult to maintain government service, he said. “We have the leanest public service in the country. For operational reasons I'm sure many workers were unable to apply.”
A government spokesperson said nobody is keeping track centrally of how many people applied as decisions were made in each ministry and department.
With 821 participants the measure will save about $2 million and 20 jobs, he said. When the program was announced in May an official reportedly said that if 2,000 people took the time off it would save the government $5 million and protect 50 jobs.
“We're continuing to push for other measures we think would have a bigger impact on protecting jobs,” said the BCGEU's Howard. Ways to boost revenue include opening public liquor stores longer, putting more staff to work in the forest to make sure correct stumpage fees are being collected and keeping highway weigh stations open to collect trucking fees, he said.
The government should also increase stimulus spending and accept the need to run a higher deficit in fiscal 2009-2010 than the $495 million finance minister Colin Hansen announced in February, Howard said.
Andrew MacLeod is The Tyee’s Legislative Bureau Chief in Victoria. Reach him here.
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Frank
2 years ago
$2 million?
So if they do that just 1,000 more times they will save enough money to cover this year's budget deficit.
dave49
2 years ago
This is not a huge saving...
This is not a huge saving, but the program's announcement just after the election is suspect. Is there something else going on here?
reallife
2 years ago
Cuts to come
Spoke to a couple provincial employees about this program. One who accepted the offer thinks this is an excellent deal. Another said the details of the program were not well explained in her workplace and she and others thought it would affect their pensions (it will not).
In any event, this will not be the end of service reductions. Senior government staff in each ministry are now working on budget cuts.
G West
2 years ago
Spoke to a large group of people about this at the weekend
Every single one of them said it was a scam and that any decent government would never participate in such an obvious scare tactic.
Only one member of that large group will take up the offer - not because it's fair or reasonable - but because that person is already suffering extreme stress from abusive treatment in the workplace.
Of course it won't affect pensions but anyone who thinks it's either fair or a good deal probably should be on pension anyway.
Someone has been spending too much time reading Jessica's emails!
I hope your contacts have also told you about the buyout packages being worked on too.
Curt
2 years ago
Giving up?
There is more to this than meets the eye and you can bet downsizing will begin in the fall. I sure hope the ones who agreed have in writing that this would not affect their pensions from the Pension Corporation.
I have to ask, is the premier and all other employees in government related jobs i.e., employed in the legislature, excluded government positions, be it PAB (200+), Jessica, all the assistants to the assistants to the ministers, the MLAs, each manager top to bottom, of each and every department of government also giving up a day's pay as requested of the Union employees?
(The elected ones could give up at least 25% of their wage increase of last year and wouldn't even notice.)
This is just a set up for more things to come.