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Letter: City of Duncan workers paid too much

Wage rates for all city employees is totally out of control
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City of Duncan workers paid too much

There is a possibility that property taxes in the City of Duncan could increase by 9.9 per cent in 2023.

This is no surprise about this as the wage rates for all city employees is totally out of control.

Effective Jan. 1, 2023 the rate of pay for a Labourer will be $30.10 per hour which is a gross pay of $59,598 per year. Effective Jan. 1, 2023 the rate of pay for the City of Duncan, fulltime Bylaw Officer will be $35.14 per hour which is a gross pay of $69,577 per year. The increase is two per cent and all city council members and city management will also receive the two per cent increase.

Comparison rates of pay from the United Steelworkers Union contract has a Labourer wage rate at $33.95 per hour and a Chokerman wage rate at $33.81 per hour. The chokerman job entails tying heavy cables to logs on mountainsides so the logs can be pulled to a loading area. A very dangerous job, yet a Bylaw Officer earns $1.33 more per hour than a Chokerman.

Employees of the City of Duncan have an employee benefit plan that consists of extended health, long term disability, weekly indemnity, vision care, dental, and employee assistance program. The benefit employee plan is paid 100 per cent by the employer, or in reality the taxpayers of Duncan.

The City of Port Alberni is in the same trouble as the City of Duncan in regards to wage rates. Out of control.

In the recent Oct. 15, 2022 city elections, the taxpayers of Port Alberni voted out four incumbents council members and voted in four newcomers. The taxpayers saw the writing on the wall and decided it was time for a new council to get wage rates under control.

The exact opposite happened in the Duncan elections. The taxpayers voted out one incumbent and elected one newcomer.

The City of Duncan taxpayers have no say in the way of complaints and will have to abide by the City of Duncan council decision making for four years.

The Cupe Union in St. John’s, Newfoundland wanted wage increases in their new contract. The City of St. John’s said, you want wage increases, you will get the wage increase but some employees will be getting layoff slips. The city offered a four year contract with zero per cent wage increases and a one time signing bounus of $1,500. The union accepted the contract, and no layoff slips were issued. The City of St. John’s has 400 CUPE employees and a taxpayer population of 110,000 people.

The City of Duncan council members and the City of Duncan management team are two faced. Why? When it comes to their personal finances and they had planned a trip to Europe for a vacation, and found that they could not afford the trip, they would not go to the bank to borrow the money. They would stay home.

In summary, the City of Duncan council and the City of Duncan management team have to bite the bullet and stop being Mr. Nice Guy spending taxpayer dollars.

Unbelievable!

Joe Sawchuk

Duncan