Councillors agree to 3.2 per cent pay hike  Dec. 20, 2011

City councillors voted 5-2 to accept a 3.2 per cent raise at council on Monday night. 

Now it will be up to each councillor to decide whether to pocket the pay, give it back or donate it to charity. 

Mayor Rick Goldring and councillors Rick Craven (Ward 1), John Taylor (Ward 3), Paul Sharman (Ward 5) and Blair Lancaster (Ward 6) agreed to the increase. 

Councillors Marianne Meed Ward (Ward 2) and Jack Dennison (Ward 4) said no. 

The mayor explained his reversal from his position of a year ago, when he, along with councillors Meed Ward, Taylor and Dennison turned down a 0.8 per cent increase, saying it was time for a raise. 

“Put into context, there was no increase in 2010, no increase in 2011, an increase in 2012, so that’s an average of a little over one per cent for the three years. 

I just think you can’t go three years in a row without adjusting it,” said Goldring in an interview after Monday’s meeting. 

The mayor said he wants to have another look at how council salary adjustments are determined. 

“We have a system that citizens have derived that provides an annual adjustment in members’ of council wages and that was derived in 2006. 

“We have to review it because I don’t want to be in a situation a year from now where we’re dealing with the same formula in the same circumstances where we’re dealing with the same three per cent. I would have a whole tonne of difficulty on that, so that’s why I want to get ahead of it and have a citizen’s committee review it, sooner as opposed to later,” he said. 

Lancaster, in spite of voting to accept the recommended raise, hasn’t made up her mind.

“I haven’t decided if I’m taking the raise. We can or we cannot take the raise. Before, we couldn’t, we didn’t have a choice,” she said. 

Lancaster indicated, “I also believe if you do not pay people appropriately, you will lose people. And so, that’s all part of the decision-making, and that’s why the citizen’s committee voted the way they did.” 

For Taylor, to take or not take the pay increase will be a decision he will make with his better half. 

“I have the right by notifying the human resources department to refuse the raise or donate it to charity. I haven’t quite made up my mind yet because I haven’t discussed it with my wife and she might have something to say about it,” he said. 

The mayor’s salary will increase from $116,161 to $119,878 and council salaries jump from $50,688 to $52,310. All members of council also receive $43,000 for sitting on Halton Region council.

CUPE Unset With  Council  Jan. 25, 2012

http://m.insidehalton.com/opinion-story/2895738-cupe-upset-with-council

 

With all the unionized workers working for the City of Burlington having settled their contracts, with a reasonable increase in their salaries of 1.5 per cent, 1.9 per cent and 1.9 per cent each year in a three-year contract, it is with awe that I heard councillors increase their salary by 3.2 per cent and also voted an additional 3.2 per cent for their seats on the Region.  When I went to school that is a 6.4 per cent increase while non-unionized staff were held to zero per cent and the unionized workers were reasonable in their demands.

It also astonishes me that they announced their increase after all the contracts were settled. Great politics. We, the transit workers at Burlington Transit, are hard-working people who wake up early in the morning to get people to work. We do not like to be taken advantage of by politicians who take us for granted.

The trust we had in management and the politicians of the city when they said these are tough times, we took into account when negotiating a contract. The increase in which the councillors have given themselves is like a punch in the stomach.

On another matter, we had a meeting with the mayor regarding an automated stop call system which assists the elderly, blind and physically-challenged passengers. 

We thought we had a productive meeting and listened to the mayor who said there was no money in the capital budget this year or next year (2012). A week later, all of a sudden council found $5.8 million in a capital reserve fund for the pier.

All we were asking for is a system that helps us drivers help the travelling public. Another smoke and mirrors job.

But here is the kicker. A consultant was hired to develop a master plan for transit.  Cost is probably in the area of $100,000. 

On the steering committee are councillors who don’t support transit, like Councillor Paul Sharman. This master plan is a waste of time and money. Drivers have given advice to management on how to improve the system for years but nothing has been done. It’s status quo. The system is running late, connections are missed, complaints have risen and nothing has been done. Other systems in the GTA have improved their service. Just look to the neighbour to the east. Oakville increased its service by 23 per cent and increased its ridership by that much. This city has done nothing.
As the movie Field of Dreams quotes —  “Build it and they will come”.  The city should look at building the transit system and expanding it. But council has not the will to do it except to make a few happy.

Bob Dorosch, Mississauga, Chief Stewart CUPE Local 2723