Williams justified the increases, saying, among other things, that "They’re special staff. They’re a staff that are my senior advisers, that are running a $5-billion corporation, from my perspective."
Williams also acknowledged he needed to pay to retain people, particularly since he is a demanding boss. (All Premiers are.)
Has anyone been hearing any new nicknames for the Premier's Office aside from the old reliable the "8th Floor"?
Shrieking Shack, for example?
Incidentally, 8th Floor isn't like being one of the rings of hell from The Inferno. Rather it refers to the office's physical location. 8th Floor of an 11 Floor tower.
Funny and here everyone thought the province was run by the cabinet, assisted by senior public servants and overseen by the House of Assembly. Those senior public servants, by the way will only get a three per cent pay hike this year.
Williams also told the Telegram that while other public servants can expect salary increases in next year's collective bargaining rounds, the hikes won't be upwards of 8%. Guess 16% is out of the question, too.
But I digress.
Turns out it's actually all being run from the 8th Floor.
Highly centralized government indeed.
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Update: From the print version of the Telegram comes details of the salary hikes.Chief of Staff: $131,050 from $121,180 (+ 8.1%)
Dir. of Communications: $101,896 from $89,546 (+ 13.8%)
Deputy chief of staff: $94,538 (new position)
Special advisor: $92,232 from $85,281 (+ 8.2%)
Principal assistant: $90,036 from $83,247 (+ 8.2%)
Director of operations: $81, 663 from $69,913 (+ 16.8%)
Manager, community outreach: $79,673 from $68,250 (+16.7%)
