NDP's feeble effort to balance budget blown apart by deal with BCGEU

VICTORIA — The New Democrats abandoned their hardline bargaining with striking government workers this weekend and approved a settlement that will cost billions and undermine their already feeble efforts at balancing the budget.

The proposed settlement, still needing ratification, spreads a 12 per cent raise over four years.

That’s a far cry from the NDP government’s opening offer of 3.5 per cent over two years in what they called a “balanced measures bargaining mandate”, with its deliberate echo of balancing the budget.

The revised terms are expected to become the new mandate for the almost 200 public sector unions and associations negotiating contracts this year.

The government says a raise of one per cent would add $532 mil

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