Prior to reading this article, you should visit the website for this years’ Sunshine List-those earning more than $100k.

Believe it or not that is the burning question on the mind of this Local President, heading into yet another round of layoffs and bargaining.

As many of you know, the Union was shocked at the size of the bonus of one ELT member in 2012 – a whopping 12% on a frozen salary of $272,000.00.

When we met with the Finance department to discuss this years’ round of layoffs (HAPS), it was forefront in my mind.

The Union received a lesson in politics (LOL), we were advised that Dalton McGuinty passed a piece of legislation called the “Excellent Care Act” whereby, despite the workers receiving zero increases, managers and senior managers were to continue to receive a bonus if they performed well.

This kind of income inequality is really apparent when you see the layoffs of full-time and part-time staff, and you see the monies being spent on agency, temps and often in the abuses of our own casual staff.

If you add up the bonus money on that meager $272,000 salary, it amounts to more dollars than many of our own staff in support services earns in one year.

The Union took a moment to remind the Finance folks that if all the people who got a ‘performance bonus’ of that size (and even more in some instances) received only a fraction of that bonus, and the remaining monies somehow trickled down to the ‘rest of the working stiffs’, morale might be a titch higher at the Centre of Excellence.

So go ahead, guess—how many people have been working as hard as they can to earn that bonus? We see it, we know who will walk away with their “performance nugget”, and we know who it will not be.

We will continue in all of our efforts moving forward at the bargaining table to ensure you receive a just collective agreement, which enables you to attend work in a civilized manner.

Cheers,

Nancy Pridham