In the noise of an angry labour dispute between the government and civil servants, the voice of taxpayers is but a whisper. It's curious that whenever there is public employee strike we hear endlessly about the complaints, grievances and salary demands of union members but never are taxpayers asked how much they are willing to pay.

In the current dispute between the province and the Saskatchewan Government Employees Union (SGEU) we've repeatedly heard the ludicrous salary demands of 27 per cent over three years. The SGEU reportedly reduced their demand to 15 per cent and the government has countered with a nine per cent offer.

The SGEU, which has focused its strike efforts on the province's prisons, is outraged that the government brought in "replacement workers" to run the jails (hey, why don't we just throw the doors open and let the criminals run free We can round them up once the SGEU has their salary demands met). Union members are now blockading roads to provincial jails to ensure no "replacement workers" are entering facilities.

The government huffs and the union puffs while taxpayers sit on the sidelines and wonder what the impact of this will be on their wallets once the smoke clears.

The media continually reminds us that 2007 will likely be an election year. Therefore, the NDP is strongly motivated to "buy" labour peace to improve their political fortunes. Recall that the government waited until after the last election to impose a 0-1-1 "wage mandate" on SGEU workers.

As an aside, that 0-1-1 wage policy never materialized as government employees generally found a way to get raises beyond 0-1-1. For example, according to the Department of Corrections and Public Safety, the average salary for employees rose from $47,000 to $50,000 between 2003 and 2006 - or around 5.5 per cent. This is a far cry from what they should have received under the government's "draconian" 0-1-1 wage mandate.

For unions and the government alike there's no question that government workers deserve a raise above the rate of inflation. Never do they consider that workers ought to be paid according to the value of work being done.

For example, substantial raises for nurses in recent years have largely been tolerated. Nurses are, after all, workers with specialized skills and there aren't enough of them to meet our needs. Therefore, nurses are paid competitive salaries in order to bring them to Saskatchewan and encourage new entrants into the field.

Is that really the case with most of the 20,000 SGEU members A quick look at the careers section of the Saskatchewan government web site shows only a handful of public job openings. This hardly indicates a government screaming for people under current salary conditions.

As it stands there isn't a single opening for corrections workers. One must conclude that corrections workers are generally happy with the jobs they voluntarily accepted with full knowledge of the pay rates.

If government workers aren't happy with their wages wouldn't they be voting with their feet and finding other, more lucrative, jobs It's no secret that government wages and benefits are tough to beat anywhere else in the economy, so why must we increase salaries by 27, 15, or even 9 per cent

The need to give government employees a raise beyond inflation is political and not practical. The government spends billions on public sector wages each year so just a small increase can add up to hundreds of millions from taxpayers. Where is the urgency to give civil servants a big raise coming from Certainly not taxpayers, but nobody's listening to them anyway.