Finance Minister Donna Harapuer is preparing to adjust Saskatchewan’s mid-year financial update in the wake of the union representing SaskPower employees voting against a 3.5 per cent wage decrease.
The union, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), are the first public sector union to officially reject the province’s plan to find $250 million in savings by cutting public sector compensation by 3.5 per cent.
“It’s disappointing of course whenever you have an agreement that isn’t ratified by the members, but the collective bargaining will continue and we have to adjust our budget accordingly as we move forward,” Harpauer said.
Based on the $325 million in SaskPower salary and benefits paid to employees last year, this move stands to cost the province approximately $11.4 million.
In the first quarter update, then-finance minister Kevin Doherty announced $125 million of the province’s $300 million contingency fund would be used to cover a failure to implement the cut in the first six months of the fiscal year.
READ MORE: Province releases first quarter financial update
As of that update, the contingency fund has $135 million remaining.
Public Serivce Commission critic Warren McCall said this compensation reduction plan has been “full of bologna” since it was introduced.
“For the government to come out in the spring and say look, we’re going to take the cost of our mistakes out of your paycheque, didn’t sound like it would be on then and it didn’t sound like it would be on anytime in the future,” McCall said.
Finding how best to balance the books amidst the unlikelihood of finding these savings by the end of the fiscal year is a challenge Harpauer must face during a leadership race.
“I’m building a budget for one premier, cabinet, and caucus to be also reviewed by a second premier and cabinet, and I don’t know who that is and I may not be the finance minister,” Harpauer said.
“So I have to put this together with a lot of flexible parts.”
Harpauer said she will deliver the mid-year update by the end of November. It won’t be all bad news, as she said agriculture and crop insurance projections are doing better than expected.
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