A Global Montreal investigation has uncovered some dramatic salary increases at the Montreal Transit Corporation. Senior executives at the Société de Transport de Montréal earned an average 18 per cent more in 2010 than in 2009.
An economist at the Conseil du Patronat de Quebec – the province’s largest association of employers, says double-digit pay increases to senior STM staff seem extreme at first glance, but they have to take a closer look.
“It might seem shocking or scandalous, but you have to put it into context,” Norma Kozhaya says.
The raises could be making up for past pay freezes, she adds.
But, that wasn’t the case.
Senior staff salaries increased by 34 per cent in the past four years, 57 per cent when factoring in added pay for special projects.
That’s an average of more than 14 per cent a year.
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While senior executives have seen their pay cheques jump, so too have fare-paying commuters.
The cost of a monthly transit pass has also gone up by almost 50 per cent in the past decade.
Kozhaya says the Crown corporation needs to be very careful when using public money to pay for steep salary hikes.
“When it’s taxpayers’ money, one has to be very cautious,” she says.
Global News compared the STM executive salaries with their counterparts at the Toronto Transit Corporation and found they get pay hikes just over 1 per cent during the same period.
For example, the STM’s executive director Yves Devin made more than $313,000 in 2010, thirty thousand dollars more than his Toronto counterpart Gary Webster who earned $281,000 in 2010.
Municipal affairs observer Karim Boulas is surprised at the difference. “I think the fact that the top guy in Toronto is making less than the top guy in Montreal is shocking given the cost of living in Toronto, given the scope and size of the network in Toronto.”
There is also a difference in the way that pay hikes are awarded in the two cities.
In Toronto, an independent firm sets the salary increases while in Montreal, the STM’s board of directors approves the increases. Vice-president Marvin Rotrand told Global News that last year the STM did go outside looking for guidance on salaries.
“Our guys were underpaid, we hired a professional firm because the board wanted to retain expertise at the top we didn’t want to lose our best people.” Rotrand also notes that Montreal transit executives are paid on par with other public sector executives.
“We pay on merit. Our salaries are competitive in the public sector for high ranking CEOs.”
But Projet Montreal city councilor Alex Norris says the figures show that “things are out of whack”. He added,
“Mayor Tremblay needs to do a better job of defending the interests of tax payers and bringing these senior administrators salaries under control.”
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