June 18, 2014
Taxpayer Federation “Policy Menu” an attack against working people, says CUPE 500 President Mike Davidson
The Canadian Taxpayer Federation’s (CTF) “Policy Menu” is nothing more than an attempt to associate accountability issues at city hall with undermining the collective bargaining rights of the hard-working city employees who provide services to Winnipeggers each and every day.
“Winnipeggers know that there is a problem with accountability at city hall” said Mike Davidson, President of CUPE Local 500.” “They also know that city workers are out there fixing water mains, repairing roads, providing recreation services, and making our city operate as efficiently as possible.”
The CTF’s Policy Menu outlines a number of measures to increase accountability at City Hall, but delves deeper into anti-union and anti-collective agreement rhetoric that is intended to undermine the value of working as a City of Winnipeg employee.
“The CTF will use issues like accountability, which we all agree needs to be improved, as a wedge into their real agenda: attacking workers and their families,” said Davidson. “We should not be fooled by their approach.”
The CTF Policy Menu suggests that “Union User Fees” should be implemented, charging unions for the cost associated with paycheque reductions.
“Paycheque reductions are a common Human Resources practice in any workplace,” said Davidson. “If the CTF truly believes that this is a legitimate or reasonable revenue-generating tool, then I suggest they go back to the drawing board.”
The CTF Policy Menu also directly attacks decent pensions, job security, and stable public services.
“There is a lot of evidence in Winnipeg that points to the fact that contracting out city services results in higher costs, service cuts, and no accountability,” said Davidson. “The CTF is contradicting itself in its own policy menu, which is more like a poison apple than an actual meal.”
The suggestion that decent public pensions should be slashed, and that young people entering the workforce should not enjoy a decent pension plan, is also ludicrous.
“The CTF wants to eliminate adequate pensions for young workers, and force their parents to work longer,” said Davidson. “If the CTF really cared about retirement security, they would join CUPE in calling on Harper Conservatives to expand the Canadian Pension Plan.”
The bits and pieces of the Policy Menu that may seem reasonable are only there to deceive the public, and the mayoral candidates, into believing that the entire document is credible, which it is not.
“If mayoral candidates are interested in finding cost savings, then I suggest they talk to the people who actually work for the city, rather than listening to the reports of biased interest groups like the CTF,” said Davidson.
CUPE Local 500 represents about 5,000 employees working at the City of Winnipeg who provide front-line services in public works, community services, water and wastewater, recreation and other service areas.
