Here’s what your humble e-scribbler said on Wednesday morning about the fact the provincial government didn’t include any amount in the 2012 budget to cover salary increases:
Pull the other one
The budget contains no amounts for wage increases. Any talk of forcing departments to come up with increases out of existing budgets is..well..talk. That’s all Tom Marshall does. The Tories left out the amounts because they don’t know how much they’ll be forced to pay yet.
Watch for it.
And here’s what Premier Kathy Dunderdale said in the House of Assembly on Wednesday afternoon in answer to a question about the negotiations from Liberal leader Dwight Ball.
Bear in mind Dunderdale warned the universe until the end of March that she and her colleagues would be hauling three percent out of government spending and were looking at layoffs of hundreds of public servants:
PREMIER DUNDERDALE: Mr. Speaker, this will not be our first round of negotiations with the wonderful people who work for the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador and the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.
…
Given our record, Mr. Speaker, we have not done badly and we have not had to fire people, lay people off, and close down programs as a result of our negotiations, nor do we expect we will have to do the same this time either.
At least you didn’t have to wait for too long until you saw Kathy blink.
- srbp -