If you didn't know any better, you'd think the term cooperative gains was actually a good thing. Cooperation is nice and anytime you're able to gain something, well, that can't be bad, so put them together and the outcome has to be positive, doesn't it? You'd think that would be the case, but the definition the provincial government has given the term is a whole lot different. In Victoria-speak, cooperative gains is a nice way of saying we'll reach wage settlements with public sector staff, we just won't give those responsible for cutting the cheques the money to fund the agreed upon raises. Instead, these organizations will have to find the money from within their own budgets.
School districts around the province, including right here in Delta, are dealing with that reality following CUPE and the B.C. Public Schools' Employers Association reaching agreement on a two-year contract last week.
I'm sure local school officials saw this one coming down the pike and have contingencies in place, but it does seem curious that Victoria expects cash-strapped school districts to suddenly find money to cover these wage increases when they haven't had the resources to fund basic necessities.
Trustees tell us every spring that if there had been any fat in the Delta school district budget it was chopped long ago. Deficits year after year have resulted in repeated staff layoffs, a reduction in support services and even forced the closure of a pair of elementary schools by a district that scours the globe for international students and peddles exams overseas in an attempt to boost revenues.
If you hadn't noticed, there's simply not a lot of money floating around. Just ask parents that wanted rural bus service to be maintained.
That's not to suggest CUPE members aren't deserving of a raise, particularly given they haven't had one in four years, and it's hard to begrudge a 3.5 per cent hike over two years for a group that has seen its buying power reduced through public sector restraint.
However, it's hard to comprehend how the same school districts that cry poverty at every turn are the ones that are now supposed to magically come up with the cash to cover the new contractual obligations. Having received repeated pleas for more funding from all corners of the province on an annual basis, Victoria knows these districts are in tough straits, yet it has no qualms about downloading additional costs.
I guess that's how cooperative gains works.
