Pay cheques are going up for senior staff with the City of Thunder Bay.
Despite the noise of a protest outside city hall on Monday night, Council voted in favour of a pay band adjustment of eight per cent, on top of a general increase of four per cent in 2022 for the over 300 non-unionized staff.
City Manager Norm Gale told council the adjustment will cost approximately $63,000 in this year’s budget.
Gale stressed senior management, on the other hand, would not be receiving that amount, even with the council’s decision.
Optics were raised several times during ratification as one Councillor and three At-Large members voted against the original motion.
“We can look in the short term, which is always going to be inexpensive, or we can look at the long term implications of these decisions,” remarked one At Large Councillor.
“I think Councillor Fraser said it best, unions will be licking their chops at this decision. We’re okaying up to 12 per cent for one employee group, no matter how you cut it. You can say it’s performance-based, no one is getting it this year, and that’s the point. This is a large increase to an employee group, it’s going to have repercussions in the corporation.”
An amendment was suggested to make the additional bump up just two per cent instead of eight, but that motion was shot down with only three Councillors voting in favour.
“In the community, this doesn’t feel proper or feel good, the private sector does not get these raises, they are lucky if they are to get cost of living increases,” added Neebing Councillor Cody Fraser. “(That said) I think this is the right thing to do. As Directors of the corporation, it’s our job to look out for the best interests of the corporation and in my view, the eight per cent meets that objective.”
The protesting group outside released figures from Thunder Bay’s Sunshine List, stating an average salary for the city’s 547 employees was $127,100 dollars.
They said that’s higher than Toronto’s Sunshine list where the average is $124,447 dollars and Ottawa’s at $119,437.
The administration couldn’t say how much this ratification will cost the City in the long term, they could only pinpoint the impact on this year’s budget.
