The proposed public sector "compensation restraint" legislation floated on Wednesday by the Liberals is neatly silent on whether the government will impose contract concessions on 500,000 working people. The government consistently talks of a "compensation freeze" or "compensation restraint". Obligingly, the media has usually repeated that framing of the issue, as if it were the main bone of contention between the government and the unions. But actions speak louder than words and it it is quite clear from the terms the government is actually imposing on school board workers (through Bill 115) that contract concessions rather than a contract freeze is what the government has in mind. While I will leave it to the lawyers to have the final word on the proposed legislation, the government's proposed Respecting Collective Bargaining Act 2012 artfully leaves the framework of the contracts to be imposed undefined. The "mandates" that
Notes from Leftwords -- Doug Allan