GN cash injection goes to employees

SARA MINOGUE

The Government of Nunavut will spend about $45 million more than they expected on operations and maintenance this fiscal year, including nearly $14 million to fatten the pay cheques received by GN employees.

The new spending, provided under the Supplementary Appropriations Act, was announced in the legislative assembly this past Monday by Finance Minister Leona Aglukkaq.

The government calls for “supplementary appropriations” when it needs to spend more money than was agreed upon in the budget.

In April of this year, the GN signed a new collective agreement with the Nunavut Employees Union after three months of negotiations.

The agreement covers the period between April 1, 2003 and Sept. 30, 2006, and includes 1,750 employees, or about one-third of Nunavut residents who have jobs.

At the time, NEU president Doug Workman claimed the GN had won the agreement by “throwing money at the northern allowance.”

The GN agreed to raise northern allowance payments for GN employees across the board. They also agreed to offer annual wage increases of 3 per cent for each of the first three years, followed by a wage increase of 1.5 per cent in the last six months of the deal.

The agreement is retroactive to April 1, 2003.

So while the GN will pay $14 million for this year’s wage increases, they also have to pay an extra $5 million to cover retroactive salary increases for 2003-2004.

The $45 million supplementary appropriation for the coming year represents a 6 per cent increase in total operations and maintenance spending.

Within that increase, a further $3 million will pay for “shortfalls” in other employee costs: Workers’ Compensation fees, employee medical travel and dental premiums.

Another large chunk of money will go to the Department of Health and Social Services.

That department will spend an extra $9 million to send patients to hospitals in the South. The money will cover airfare, boarding homes, dental services, vision care and per diems.

The department also requested an extra $1 million to pay for agency nurses. Agency nurses are nurses who are hired temporarily from staffing agencies. These nurses are more expensive because the GN has to pay the nurses’ salaries, and the agency’s cut for providing the nurse.

Rising fuel prices will also cost the GN more money than expected.

The Nunavut Housing Corporation requested $4.8 million to pay for “the uncontrollable expense of utilities in 2004-2005 and to offset the financial impact of the fuel increases of August 2004.”

The Department of Community and Government Services, which pays the bills for the majority of government buildings, will spend an extra $2 million on monthly bills, including electricity, heating fuels, utilidor services, lighting, water delivery, and sewage and garbage collection.

The GN also asked for a $20 million increase for operations and maintenance in the 2003-2004 fiscal year. That represents a 2.8 per cent increase in overall operations and maintenance spending.

Of that, $8 million was set aside “to reflect the potential liability of the settlement of additional sexual abuse claims.”

The remainder was spent on year-end adjustments to employee leave and benefits and for the “allowance of doubtful accounts.”

The GN also added an extra $56.5 million to the coming year’s capital budget, but almost all of this is money carried over from last year’s capital budget.