The note from BCGEU president Daryl Walker says that “Union members belong to the 99 percent who are not benefiting from the current political and economic system. That message needs to be seen and heard.” (
Click here for a copy of that e-mail.)
“Walker is dead wrong,” said Jordan Bateman, CTF BC Director. “Public sector unions are provided for very generously by taxpayers, thank-you very much, and insulated from the economic uncertainties felt by those working outside the public sector. If there’s any group benefitting from the current political system, it’s public sector unions.”
According to number released earlier this year by Statistics Canada, the average Canadian public service employee earned $1,023.20 a week in July 2011. Meanwhile, everybody else earned an average of $777.69. More than 86% of government workers have a workplace pension plan, compared to just 25.3% of private sector workers.
“If 99% of the population is not benefitting from the current political and economic system it’s because nearly half their incomes are taken in taxes,” said Bateman. “Those taxes are largely driven by the demands of public sector unions—they want to cut everybody else’s pay to increase their own. As the president of the BC Teachers Federation said recently, teachers want B.C.’s income tax cuts reversed so they can increase their own pay and benefits by $2.2 billion.” (
For more on the BCTF’s statement...)
Further, the BCGEU is a huge investor in the very corporations Mr. Walker whinges about.
Three of the companies skewered in Occupy Vancouver promotional material are Royal Bank, TD Bank and ScotiaBank. But through their pension plan, BCGEU’s members own more than $439.7 million worth of equity in those three banks alone.
“The union foxes are hiding in the Occupy Vancouver hen house,” said Bateman. “Unions like the BCGEU invest in some of the largest corporations in the world—the very companies Occupy Vancouver so passionately disparages.”
In fact, BCGEU members’ pension plan (paid for by member contributions and taxpayer dollars) owns equity worth $8 billion in companies like Suncor Energy Inc., Research in Motion, Barrick Gold Corp., CN Rail, Potash Corp., Teck Resources, Exxon Mobil, Microsoft, General Electric, Wells Fargo, Proctor and Gamble, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Apple, IBM, Royal Dutch Shell, Nestle, HSBC, and Samsung.
“It is completely hypocritical for the BCGEU to stand with protestors bleating on about corporate power when they themselves invest hundreds of millions each year into those same companies,” said Bateman. “The BCGEU needs to shake its collective head: these companies provide jobs, livelihoods and pension income for millions of Canadians, many of whom belong to unions, not to mention providing governments billions in tax revenue to pay BCGEU members generous wages and benefits.”
British Columbia Director, Jordan Bateman
