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Austerity in a nutshell
Sep. 18th, 2012 06:44 amSo Bill 115, which froze teacher's salaries and advancement through the salary grid, personally cost me just over $7000 a year based on the salary I would have gotten if there was just a simple pay freeze. Even more than that when you count things like the money I spend to take additional qualification courses ($700-800 a year) because I spend my summers, not loafing on a beach, but improving my credentials in hopes of getting to the top pay category. Even more when, next year, they mandate three unpaid days off, making the "pay freeze" actually a pay rollback.
It also cuts my sick days in a way that will dramatically affect my health. I suffer from a debilitating, life-threatening, potentially chronic illness. Now every time I have to take a sick day, whether it's to get the drug treatments that leave me weak and nauseous, to get consultations with doctors, or just because I work in a germ factory and have a depressed immune system, I have to weigh my health against the third of my day's salary that they'll dock if I'm gone more than 10 days this year.
And we can't strike over this. We can't even appoint a mediator to help us get a fair contract. We're not allowed to negotiate at all. The law is not subject to any courts, or the Human Rights Code. It says right there in the law!
The justification for this is that there's no choice! We're in a deficit! There's a crisis, and everyone must make sacrifices*. It's for the kids!
Which is why I was so interested to read that the government that voted in the illegal Bill 115 is itself making huge sacrifices for the good of the economy.
Wait, did I say that? Silly me. They're giving themselves huge pay hikes. Because how else will you attract qualified professionals?
Torches and pitchforks time, people.
ETA: One of those articles is undated and the other is from November 2011. But surely we didn't go from financially flush to flat broke in 10 months!
* Rich people excluded, naturally. Dontcha know they're job creators?
It also cuts my sick days in a way that will dramatically affect my health. I suffer from a debilitating, life-threatening, potentially chronic illness. Now every time I have to take a sick day, whether it's to get the drug treatments that leave me weak and nauseous, to get consultations with doctors, or just because I work in a germ factory and have a depressed immune system, I have to weigh my health against the third of my day's salary that they'll dock if I'm gone more than 10 days this year.
And we can't strike over this. We can't even appoint a mediator to help us get a fair contract. We're not allowed to negotiate at all. The law is not subject to any courts, or the Human Rights Code. It says right there in the law!
The justification for this is that there's no choice! We're in a deficit! There's a crisis, and everyone must make sacrifices*. It's for the kids!
Which is why I was so interested to read that the government that voted in the illegal Bill 115 is itself making huge sacrifices for the good of the economy.
Wait, did I say that? Silly me. They're giving themselves huge pay hikes. Because how else will you attract qualified professionals?
Torches and pitchforks time, people.
ETA: One of those articles is undated and the other is from November 2011. But surely we didn't go from financially flush to flat broke in 10 months!
* Rich people excluded, naturally. Dontcha know they're job creators?
