How many more Albertans need to lose their job before government union bosses are willing to accept a pay cut?

It’s a serious question.

Does the unemployment rate in Calgary and Edmonton need to be higher than in every other major Canadian city? That’s already happened.

Does compensation paid to Alberta workers need to dip down below 2014 levels? That’s already happened too.

Does the provincial government’s debt need to surpass $100 billion? That’s set to happen during spring 2021.

Here’s a story illustrating what the private sector has been going through.

In 2018, a manager in Alberta’s oil industry phoned into the Danielle Smith radio show. After taking pay cuts he still had to lay off 25 per cent of his staff. He told Smith that his workers were “going home to tell their wives tonight that Christmas is over.”

That story happened before the pandemic. Even more Albertans are living through that sad Christmas story this year.

A few months ago, Calgary-based Suncor announced it would be laying off up to 2,000 people over the next 18 months. Cenovus and Husky also announced that they could cut as many as one in four jobs. At the end of November, Imperial Oil said it would be laying off 200 people.

Premier Jason Kenney is trying to slightly reduce the burdens on struggling taxpayers. Finance Minister Travis Toews is asking government employees to take a three-to-four per cent pay cut. If you’ve been working in the private sector and you only received a three or four per cent pay cut, you’re likely feeling a deep sense of thankfulness.

But instead of agreeing to modest pay reductions, union bosses are pushing for wage increases. And if making struggling Albertans pay higher taxes isn’t bad enough, some union bosses are openly musing about “general strikes.”

Not only do Alberta’s government employees tend to receive significantly more than their counterparts in other provinces, but many government employees have also been receiving pay increases during the downturn.

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation analyzed collective bargaining agreements published by the Alberta government and found hundreds of municipal and provincial government settlements that resulted in pay increases since the end of 2014.

In stark contrast, we couldn’t find a single example of a government union that was willing to take a pay cut during Alberta’s downturn. In fact, the last broad Alberta government pay reduction occurred in 1994 and was a five per cent pay cut, according to freedom of information requests obtained by Secondstreet.org. For city employees in Calgary and Edmonton, there are no records of any settlements resulting in pay cuts.

Thousands of government employees under so-called wage freeze agreements also received pay increases during Alberta’s downturn.

“Even when salary increases remain at zero, unionized employees are eligible to receive annual merit/in-range increases as they move through the grid, which means that they are eligible for increases as high as 16 per cent over four years,” explained the Blue Ribbon Panel on Alberta’s finances.

It’s important to recognize that some union bosses have been willing to share in the tough times to keep businesses afloat and preserve as many jobs as possible.

Throughout Alberta’s downturn, 107 private sector union settlements resulted in pay reductions. Some employees at Foremost Universal took a 25 per cent pay cut and some employees at Ledcor CMI took an 18 per cent pay cut.

Surely, many government employees recognize that they’re one of the lucky ones and would be willing to accept a pay cut to help to relieve some of the mounting costs on their neighbours.

So, the only question remaining is, how many more Albertans need to lose their jobs before government union bosses are willing to accept a pay cut?

This column was originally published in the Edmonton Journal on Dec. 22, 2020.