Anyone else now convinced that the entire dance between CUPE and David Miller has been nothing more than an elaborate kabuki play?
While I promise to move onto Stephen Harper's terrible, awful, no good, really bad week after this post, I think I need to examine today's City of Toronto developments first.
Earlier today, David Miller released for the first time details of his "tough stand." No more rhetoric, finally we have some facts - admittedly a strange development in the midst of the current labour unrest.
Let's put it this way, if David Miller took one of those Facebook tests "whcih negotiator in history are you most like," I think the answer would place him a lot closer to Rob Babcock than Branch Rickey.
If the current offer on the table from David Miller is him acting tough, I can't even imagine what him giving the kitchen sink to the unions might look like.
The mayor has somehow been able to negotiate himself to the ceiling (remember, CUPE still thinks the current offer is insulting, unreasonable and not in the ballpark. So, if this is now the city's "floor", any settlement is either going to be this deal, or richer). This is presumably just Act 3 in the predictable kabuki play that is now unfolding.
So what qualifies as as an "unreasonable" offer from CUPE but a "tough deal" from our mayor?
A 7.2 per cent salary increase. On top of the richest public sector salaries (for these jobs) in the country. At a time of recession. When the city already faces a $400 million shortfall this year.
Oh, and he is providing a "partial payout" of the sick-leave program. The one that was supposedly a non-negotiable point going into these negotiations.
Man, the guy sure is a scrooge.
The Toronto Board of Trade - the most credible voice right now in the city on the lack of sustainability of David Miller's budget - responded to the latest offer in a release this afternoon by asking the key question:
"The Board is ... concerned about the affordability of the city's wage offer, especially in the final two years of its contract proposal. The lack of sustainability in the city's finances predates the current recession and continues today: Toronto entered the 2009 fiscal year facing a revenue shortfall of some $400 million.
As a result, it is unclear how the city will afford the wage increases it is proposing.
If the city can commit to a sick-leave payout and wage increases totaling 7.2 per cent over the next four years, it should also tell taxpayers how it plans to pay those costs. That's why the Board of Trade continues to call upon the city to provide multi-year projections for its operating budget as soon as possible."
Start holding your breath... now.
