Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to discuss today treatment that some of our employees who’ve been affected by the proposed budget are receiving.
Since March of this year GNWT employees have been dealing with what are effectively layoff notices and all the emotion and the angst that such notices brings. Over the last couple of weeks as we have discussed the budget, Members have been told that the government is trying to make it as easy as possible for the affected employees and to help them transition from one job to the next within the government, from the government to another employer, or to unemployment. That it is easy for these employees, however, is a statement I find quite debatable.
Mr. Speaker, I’d like to advise this House of an injustice in our pay system for certain employees, and it’s related to Donny Days. Some time ago, to make things fair for all employees, the GNWT and the Union of Northern Workers, through a collective agreement signed by both parties, agreed that 1.92 per cent of each employee’s paycheque would be deducted throughout the year so that the staff would receive pay throughout the mandatory leave days, or Donny Days, in December. Both parties have also agreed that these pay deductions are attached to the job position, not the employee, and
that’s been verified by an arbitration case. Should an employee leave his or her job mid-year and the position be subsequently filled, the new employee will still have fully paid for the December leave courtesy of the previous person’s deductions. It all works out in the end, and it does make sense, actually.
But, Mr. Speaker, what do not make sense are the pay deductions of an employee whose position is being terminated as a result of this budget. No one will fill that position; it’s gone. Poof! Yet the Department of Human Resources is advising these employees that no refund of their Donny Days deductions will be forthcoming. To add insult to injury, we are laying people off and we are reducing their salary for five days’ leave they will not be able to take. The money will not go to another employee, as the position has been eliminated. No doubt the funds could fall into general revenue, but it’s also entirely possible that the money will be used by the department as a slush fund to buy supplies or support programs, and that does not seem fair to me.
This injustice needs to be corrected, Mr. Speaker. Affected employees whose positions are eliminated who do not go on to another GNWT job should receive a refund of the 1.92 per cent of their pay that’s been deducted on each paycheque for Donny Days. I will have questions for the Minister of Finance later on.