Loading...
Clinton News-Record, 1974-12-24, Page 17Ontario Government of Ontario Management Board Your government's government's position on negotiations with the Civil Service Association of 0 do. The Government of Ontario has offered the CSAO an average 20% pay increase over one year and is prepared to go to arbitration. CSAO leadership has refused this offer and also refuses to go to arbitration. We believe, as your government, we have offered a fair and reasonable contract. CU)/, • 1, 011,, • 0, • '44111' •." ••• • 4 , /p ro:, '4 fi 4 rA, Ntr t ry, ..."100%",111N,N' ""'"'*•-•• Nvir- ' *4 iv atwo 11, • I/ "•,4 , . 'I, r :ft, • v ,tr A r iNli " ea, `' Nem— At - v• 4 44 4 Clinton Ontario 1 Third Section Clinton News-Record Thursday, December 24, 1974 . 109 Year-No 52 ai 41* Farm taxes still reduced The Farm Tax Reduction Program which allowed the owners of farm land a 50 per- cent rebate on last year's municipal taxes is being con- tinued for the 1974 tax year. The Program for 1974 was an- nounced jointly by the Honourable William A. Stewart, Minister of Agriculture and Food and the Honourable John White, Treasurer and Minister of Economics and Intergovern- mental Affairs. First introduced in Ontario in 1970, the Tax Reduction Program is designed to remove some of the municipal tax. pressures brought to bear on farms. Certain changes in the 1973 program will be continued for '1974. The rebate level will be maintained at 50 percent and only those owners who fill out an application form will receive the rebate. Mailing of the ap- plication forms will begin the first week of December 1974. To qualify for the 1974 Farm Tax Rebate, the applicant must certify that at least 50 percent of the 1974 municipal taxes have been paid and that the current farm operation produces farm products valued at not less than $2,000 in a nor- mal productive year. Ap- plications for grants may be made on or before December 31. 1975. If the assessment status of the property should change from a farm by reason of its development for residential, in- dustrial or commercial pur- ,poses in .or before 1984, the tax rebates are considered repayable with interest of 8 percent per year. Questions on the Farm Tax Reduction Program should be directed to the Subsidies Branch, Ministry of Treasury, Economics and Intergovern- mental Affairs, 56 Wellesley Street West, Toronto, Ontario. Minister says be earefUl of fund raisers John T. Clement, Ontario's minister of consumer and com- mercial relations, last week drew attention to the problem of phoney charities. "It's easy to take' advantage of people's generosity at this time of year, and although most organizations do a lot of good at Christmas, there are a few that are strictly rackets", he said. Mr, Clement said that one scheme involves phoning at random to solicit money for charity Christmas parties. "The money is supposed to help make Christmas a little happier for orphans and crippled children, but what often hap- pens is that the organizer turns out to be a con man who keeps most of the money for himself", There are several ways the public can help stop this sort of rip-off, Mr. Clement said. "First, give only to established charities, such as "your own church or local service organizations. Second, only legitimate charities can give of ficial tax receipts, When you get a receipt, you not only save money at tax time, but you also have proof that you are giving to 4 worthy and effective cause. I think the public should also be aware that this sort of telephone solicitation 'is not used by reputable charities at ally' Mr. Clement noted that ser- vice organizations and other groups who Want to raise Money for legitimate charitable purposes should take a close look at fund-raisers who offer their services, "Too often, a very worthy group can get a. biaok eye' by unwittingly len- iing its name to a shoddy mentor who raises a lot of honey but keeps most of it", Kr, Clement said, For almost three months now the Government of Ontario has been trying to negotiate a new collec- tive agreement with the Civil Service Association of Ontario covering some 19,000 civil servants in the Operational Services Category. With less than two weeks' negotiating time left before the current contract expires and the CSAO threatening an illegal strike on January 1st if it doesn't have a new agreement by then, we thought it was time to let you, the taxpayers of Ontario, know directly'how and where things stand. After all, it is your tax dollars that will be used to pay for any wage settlement we make with these employees. And it is your services that will be threatened with disruption if the CSAO carries out its threat of an illegal walkout. The government has tried to negotiate in good faith. The CSAO first served its demands on the govern- ment on September 27th. The Association told us then it wanted a 611/2 per cent wage increase in a one-year contract for 1975. That didn't seem to government negotiators to be a serious or realistic demand on which to base negotiations and we began a series of meetings with CSAO representatives to try and discover where the real bargaining area lay. We met twice in October and again for two days early in November. During those meetings we set forth our counter- proposals. First, we suggested a two-year contract with wage increases of 10 to 16 per cent in the first year and 8 per cent in the second. Despite written assurance that this was a negotia- ble offer, the CSAO leadership insisted on taking it to its membership and, on that basis, on getting a mandate for an illegal strike if there was no agree- ment by January 1st The CSAO membership vote took two weeks and it wasn't until December 2nd and 3rd that we were able to sit down again with Association rep- resentatives. At these meetings, as they had from the outset, CSAO negotiators refused to move from their initial demand for a 611/ per cent wage increase--an increase that would cast you, the taxpayers of Ontario, almost $100 million in additional wage bills in 1975. Given this situation, government negotiators decided a major move was necessary. Since the CSAO had been insisting that the government make an offer it could take back to its member- ship, on December 3rd our representatives put their full mandate on the bargaining table. The government has made a fair and reasonable wage offer. The offer tabled by government negotiators on December '3rd represented ii considerablemove from our initial position. In recognition of the uncertainties caused by Canada's current infla- tionary climate, we proposed a one-year contract which would allow both sides to return to the bargaining table in 12 months when we could review the economic situation at that time. For the 12 months of 1975, we proposed wage increases averaging 20 per cent for the 19,000 employees involved. The increases actually ranged from 15 to 23 per cent, depending on the employee group involved, but more than 80 per cent of the civil servants would receive 20 per cent or more. The cost to the taxpayers of these increases would be $32.7 million in 1975. The government made this proposal in a sincere attempt to be fair and reasonable with its employ- ees, while, at the same time, recognizing its wider responsibilities to the taxpayers and economy of our province. Our research, based on surveys of more than 120 employers in Ontario, indicated that our wage levels would be competitive with those paid elsewhere in the province for compara- ble work. In fact, the 20 per cent increase for one year compared with an average annual increase of 14.5 per cent in contracts signed in recent months by private employers in Ontario. The government is moving to improve the collective bargaining system. Concurrently, but separate 'from the actual wage negotiations,government representatives have been discussing with the CSAO and other em- ployee organizations possible changes in the Crown Employees Collective Bargaining Act which governs collective bargaining for public servants. On December 5th the Hon. Eric Winkler, Chair- man of the Management Board, introduced the government's proposed amendments in the Legis- lature. The Bill recommends a number of changes in the Act, including three highly significant ones: (1) It proposes a revision in the method of ap- pointing arbitration boards (the ultimate recourse under the law to settle differences) to ensure that the makeup of these boards does not appear to favor either side, Under the proposed changes the employee agent and the employer each would name one member to the board and they, in turn, would agree on the choice of a neutral third person as chairman. This amendment responds directly to one of the major demands made by the CSAO in its campaign against the Act. (2) Similar changes would be made to ensure full and equal employee representation on the Public Service GrievanCe Board and the Ontario Public Service Labor Relations Tribunal, the other two major bodies established under the Act. (3) If these amendments are accepted by the Legislature, employees henceforth would be able to bargain on such matters as promotions, de- motions, transfers, layoffs and the classification and job evaluation system. Under the present law, all of these are considered management's prerog- ative. The proposed amendments also provide an opportunity, short of actual bargaining, for em- ployee 'representatives to discuss and review with the employer the governing principles of the merit system, training, and development, appraisal and super annuation. The government wants a settlement — but it must be prepared for an illegal strike. During recent days, there has been one new devel- opment. On December 13th the CSAO, for the first time,, formally dropped its demand for a 61 1/2 per cent wage increase and said, instead, it wanted a 41 per cent hike for 1975. At the time this state- ment was prepared the government had replied that it could not in all responsibility accept a demand of that magnitude. The government, for its part, remains ready to negotiate seriously and in good faith within the framework of its December 3rd proposal. We have already offered to submit the issue to an arbitra- tion board to be set up on the basis of the proposed amendments to the Crown Employees Collective Bargaining Act. • In the meantime, since January 1st isn't far away, the government has had to formulate contingency plans in the event the CSAO leadership persists in calling an illegal strike. We hope that doesn't happen. We expect that our employees won't break the law, But if they do, we are determined to meet our responsibility to maintain those services you rightfully expect to receive from your govern- ment. We believe we have been fair and reasonable with our employees and responsible to you as taxpayers and to the economy of our province.