Pay increase by government a move of complete arrogance
What a disgrace.
The 15 per cent wage increase that almost went through the B.C. Legislature only shows just how out of touch our politicians are.
Only the complete outrage from the public stopped what was essentially an unbelievably rich deal, especially considering the hard line this government has taken with unionized public sector workers.
In fact, the 15 per cent wage increase wasn't even the richest part of this deal. The pension benefits far outweighed the wage increase, in terms of value.
The NDP did a complete turnaround, and yet we can't help but wonder why were they ever in favour of it in the first place. How can a political party that has long-standing ties to this province's organized labour unions vote in favour of an increase after teachers (whose union, the BCTF, is one of the bigger players in the NDP) were left out on strike and received absolutely nothing from the government in terms of wage increases and benefits. It is no wonder the grassroots of the party is angry. Leader Carol James couldn't look any worse than she does on this issue.
But so do the governing Liberals. Gordon Campbell continues to show that he simply can't be trusted.
Under what mandate does Campbell completely ignore B.C. teachers and then try to quietly pass through this self-serving piece of legislation?rnThe fact that public outrage killed this increase is a very good thing, but it doesn't get to the heart of the real issue, and that is our provincial government is so arrogant and powerful that it actually thought it could get away with it.
And that is where the problem lies. Until our political landscape is changed to where politicians are not above those they represent we will continue to have this kind of abuse of power.
