Christy Clark’s “Pots” call BC Hydro workers “Kettles”.
Deputies who wrote BC Hydro report enjoyed combined 36.6% pay hike over last five years.
Jim Sinclair, President of the 450,000-member B.C. Federation of Labour, says three deputy ministers working for Premier Christy Clark should look in the mirror before they demand that the provincial government force between 1,000 and 1,200 employees to lose their jobs at BC Hydro.
"It‘s hypocrisy of the worst kind when three senior public servants — all of whom have enjoyed massive pay increases over the last five years — call for the dismissal of more than one thousand BC Hydro workers to cover the cost of BC Liberal policy mistakes," Sinclair said. The three deputy ministers appointed by Clark to write the Review of BC Hydro — John Dyble, Peter Milburn and Cheryl Wenezenki-Yolland — concluded that "… the level of employee growth [at BC Hydro] was excessive and significant changes are needed."
Although BC Hydro‘s annual labour costs — which includes regular and overtime payments to executives and managers, as well as unionized employees — represent just 14 percent of the Crown corporation‘s revenue requirements, the three deputies working for Clark recommended that the workforce be cut from approximately 6,000 to in the order of 4,800 employees.
Sinclair today released an analysis of the provincial government‘s Public Accounts, for the last five years, which shows that the combined compensation paid to Dyble, Milburn and Wenezenki-Yolland skyrocketed by 36.6 percent from fiscal year 2006/07 to 2010/11.
Milburn alone enjoyed a 67.1 percent hike in pay over the five-year period, as his compensation soared from $140,000 to $235,000. Wenezenki-Yolland saw a 47.3 percent increase in pay — from $117,000 to $173,000 — while Dyble‘s salary rose by 10.6 percent
between 2006/07 and 2010/11 – from $216,000 to $239,000.
Sinclair pointed out that all three public servants had received recent promotions from Christy Clark and obtained new pay increases that are not captured by the latest Public Accounts.
"John Dyble was appointed in March to be Deputy Minister to the Premier, and saw his annual pay jump to $310,000 — not including bonuses," said Sinclair. "Christy Clark also named Milburn as Deputy Finance Minister at $250,000 per year, while Cheryl Wenezenki-Yolland recently became Acting Deputy Environment Minister."
The B.C. Federation of Labour‘s analysis of the Public Accounts also shows that the trio of deputy ministers — whose report advised BC Hydro to cut its travel budget by 50 percent — had travel expenses totaling $380,000 over the last five years.
"This is one of the most hypocritical examples of ‗the pot calling the kettle black‘ that I‘ve ever seen in BC politics," said Sinclair.
"Christy Clark should tell her deputies to look at themselves in the mirror and rip up their fatally-flawed report."
