1 week Ago By Jerry Agar
Article content Political staffers in the office of councillors at Toronto City Hall are attempting to unionize. Recommended Videos If they do so, they will be the first in the nation, and that’s a potential danger for all municipalities in Canada. Political staffers are not like city workers from the various departments employed by all communities to do the work of local government.
Staffers work for the councillor, not directly for the city. Each councillor in Toronto has a budget of $430,000 from which they employ their staff according to the wishes of the councillor. Some decide they can get along with fewer staff and can therefore pay them better.
Some decide that they look more important with more staff or are more important than others so therefore need more staff. They stretch the budget. I am told from inside city hall that it is those councillors who stretch the staff that have given rise to the unhappiness that invariably leads to attempts to unionize.
There are several reasons unionizing political appointees is a bad idea. Currently a staffer is employed at the pleasure of the councillor. It is the councillor they work for.
If a councillor decides not to run again or is defeated, the staffers are out of work. There is a formula for payout as they leave based on how many years they were employed. One councillor told me, “The good ones get a job with someone else.
” Unions do not recognize the difference between the good ones, the marginal or even the bad. Unions are – sometimes to the point of, pathologically – dedicated to employing all. Expect that mentality to be a major part of ongoing negotiations until the situation changes to that of most public employees; a job for life.
That is counter productive to a councillor getting their job done. For better or worse, we elect a councillor, and their agenda deserves to be carried out by their staff. Technically, councillors are not party affiliated, but they are by definition political animals.
Imagine an NDP councillor defeating an incumbent Conservative, only to show up to work with an office full of union-protected conservative staffers whose agenda is antithetical to that of the new councillor. That is not workable. Unions are also dedicated to expanding the number of dues paying members.
Councillors often get called to situations on short notice in the evening or the weekend. Often in those cases they call a staffer to assist. It’s inconvenient for both, but politics is not a Monday to Friday, nine to five job.
In a union, the staffer could say something like, “You didn’t give me forty-eight hours notice,” or some other union rule the staffer can refuse. Outside union rules, the councillor can make arrangements with a staffer to take other time away as convenient for both. Two words that don’t go together are “union flexibility.
” Perhaps some councillors are hard to work for; unreasonable and expecting a lot for a little. Perhaps some are not paying enough. But it is politics and life are not fair.
If a person wants to make a difference and work in the public sector, by all means, do so. But join the civil service. Political staffers are first of all political.
Unionized politics are another two words we should never hear..
