Unprecedented readership of this article first posted March 4 causes me to bring it back to the top. I encourage people among the thousands of new readers to return and look through almost 1,500 articles published during the past three years.
Helping manage the BC government’s war on school teachers and public education is Deputy Minister of Education James Gorman. He is a long time senior bureaucrat.
Public accounts show his salary in fiscal 2006 was $164,085. In fiscal 2011, it was $228,942, an increase of 40% in five years. During that period, Gorman’s expenses were $136,616.
Gorman looks positively frugal compared to his colleague Rick Davis. The Education Ministry’s Superintendent of Achievement incurred expenses of $432,234 from 2006 to 2011. Spending more than $6,000 a month on lunches and such can’t leave much time for business but Davis is consistent, if nothing else.
John Dyble, Premier Photo-Op’s Deputy Minister, has also done well in the land of not net zero. Public accounts show that Dyble’s salary rose from $161,455 in fiscal 2006 to $239,121 in 2011. That was a 48% gain in five years but, the good news for Dyble is that his salary was bumped again in March 2011. His new rate is $310,000, about double what he earned five years ago.
Graham Whitmarsh, DM in the Health Ministry, had his salary go to $259,531 in fiscal 2010, 42% more than he earned in 2008. Whitmarsh charged additional personal expenses of $168,410 in the last four years.
Keith Miller, ADM for the Education Ministry’s Resource Management division earned $106,172 in fiscal 2009 and $172,381 in 2011, a growth of 62%.
Renate Butterfield, ADM for Business, Technology & Online Services Division, saw her salary grow 42% from 2006 to 2011.
David Loukidelis, long a senior Liberal bureaucrat, got 11% this year, a raise that makes his salary 42% more than it was in 2006.
Cheryl Wenezenki-Yolland, DM Advanced Education, has enjoyed steady increases in each of the last few years, including 27% ($47,000) in 2012. Since 2006, her earnings are up 115%.
Lynda Tarras, Associate Deputy Minister in Finance, scored healthy increases each year, moving her salary up by $86,459 or 78% from 2006 to 2011.
Paul Straszak from the Solicitor General’s ministry got a $59,760 (42%) raise between 2007 and 2009.
Steve Munro, DM of Aboriginal Relations earned $180,605 in fiscal 2011 but his salary in 2012 is $225,000, a one year increase of 25%.
Valerie St. John, ADM, Technology Solutions had to make do with a 9% raise in 2011, a year of net-zero for non-mandarins.
Sarf Ahmed, ADM, Integrated Workplace Solutions took raises in 2010 and 2011 totalling 14%.
Brad Grundy, ADM/EFO, Corporate Services, did a little better, his 2011 raise was 29%.
Wes Shoemaker, DM of Agriculture, has had three straight years of non net zero, adding $54,385 (32%), making his 2011 salary $224,229.
Dana Hayden, Deputy Minister of Jobs, Tourism and Innovation, scored 8% this year, a raise of almost $20,000.
Kim Henderson, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Labour, Citizens’ Services and Open Government got a raise of 6.5% in 2011, about $1,200 a month.
Stephen Brown, Deputy Minister, Children and Family Development, has a $2,000 a month raise in 2011, 13% in the Liberal government’s world of not net zero.
Don Fast, DM in the Ministry of Community, Sport and Cultural Development, has gained 18% over the last three years.
Kim Henderson, DM of Labour, got a $1,200 a month bump in 2011. Her 2011 salary of $235,000 is 55% more than the Liberal government paid her in 2009.
Pierrette Maranda, Associate Deputy Minister, Intergovernmental Relations Secretariat, earns 23% more in the current year than she earned in fiscal 2011.
Peter Milburn, DM in the Ministry of Finance, has had a particularly pleasant ride. This year, his salary rose 7% to $250,000, double what he was paid in 2006. Milburn also does better than most when it comes to expense accounts. Over a number of years, he averaged $3,000 a month. While that is not in Rick Davis territory, it is still an amount that shows remarkable disdain for taxpayers.
There is no austerity among the policy makers in Victoria. Keep in mind that their pensions and ancillary benefits are extravagant compared with those of ordinary public servants. Pensions for senior staff today are particularly extraordinary in relation to pensions paid a generation ago. There are few constraints because, among the mandarins, one person’s gain quickly spreads to the rest. So, if the Finance Ministry decides that their Deputy Minister, Assistant Deputy Ministers and Associate Deputy Ministers are worth two, three or four hundred thousand a year, soon every ministry is paying like amounts.
Even cabinet ministers and MLA’s start to think they should be paid as much or more than those they supposedly direct. There is no one willing to say no.
Sign an online petition if you support fair negotiations with BC’s school teachers.
Categories: BC Liberals, Education
in-sights.ca 
An obvious pattern here. There is money for Liberal friends doing important jobs but bugger all for the rest.
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Tell me, what the hell is a “Superintendent of Achievement”. there is no doubt that he is achieving in the area that is important to him.
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Don't you mean “Liberal friends doing IMPOTENT jobs,” getting paid to bugger us? They whole bunch aren't any good for anything but landfill!
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How do you actually SPEND $310,000 per year? Especially if you're involved in going to work.
And its not as if you have to save for your retirement.
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Maybe we need fewer ministers/DMs
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In addition to the big salaries, these people design for themselves gold plated pensions. They're expert at layering benefit programs by moving from government to agencies of government. I tracked one senior bureaucrat who moved from direct government employment, where he had an “enhanced” pension, to BC Hydro, where he was credited with extra years of pension service and allowed to buy yet more, ensuring he would collect a second huge pension benefit funded by taxpayers, despite working only briefly for the second public employer.
Pensions used to be gained by contributions paid during lengthy service. Now, the executives want grand salaries and even grander pensions earned quickly. Then, when the pensions are maximized, they take early retirement but continue working for government as a consultant, paid by contract.
Of course, playing leapfrog among the ministries, these executives approve big raises for colleagues then have the colleagues approve big raises for themselves. In the meantime, they tell ordinary workers that government cannot afford to keep workers current with inflation.
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I hate hypocrites, If they are going to preach “Net Zero Mandate”, they better practice “Net Zero Mandate”!
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Anonymous, you have nailed the heart of this matter. These mandarins are like war profiteers who line their own pockets while ordinary folks pay the price of patriotism.
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Wow! Norm, I am gobsmacked. It's a repeat of the salary hikes given to the bureaucrats working for our various health authorities (and so many of them too)! Dammit, fire a few of them and you can afford to give the nurses a raise as well.
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I am a teacher who feels helpless and bullied in light of Bill 22 and the government's glossy new EduPlan. Seeing this just adds salt to the wound!
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can you send this as a letter to the editor to one of the newspapers? Not likely to be published but you never know.
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The fact is that Postmedia newspapers are very selective in what they publish. This is not the kind of reporting they want.
However, one enterprising Vancouver news person is working actively on the story and I've provided my source material. We may see the results soon.
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And these are the people who ripped up teachers' contracts!
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We have these guys and 400 superintendents (of varying ranks) and directors all earning $125,000 +
It's outrageous! They all applaud the minister and the status quo–not advocating for students (whom they have no contact with) and silently managing the cuts and manipulating the trustees into thinking all is rosy
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Wow, they should freeze all those people's wages too. But I don't understand why you have a link to sign a petition for teachers to get raises. Two wrongs don't make a right, and poor spending in one area should not mean poor spending in another. The poor spending should simply be eliminated, and especially the government officials taking a hit before asking others to.
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The petition does not discuss wages. It asks for fair contract negotiations and supports for special education. If the government merely wanted to limit wages, Bill 22 would have done that. The agenda of this legislation is far more.
Regardless, Canada's best employers don't go to war with their employees at every opportunity. They find ways to agree on common goals and mediate differences. The teachers I talk to are worried more about not having the resources to do the work they are trained to do. With few exceptions, these are highly educated, well motivated citizens who want their students to succeed.
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How about “District Principals” where they hide highly paid educators who are no longer judged worthy of running a school.
From my investigation, I'm convinced there remains waste in school systems but there are even more pathetic and harmful shortages. Some children are denied formal evaluations of learning difficulties because there are no resources or districts don't want to commit resources, to handle problem learners if difficulties are formally recognized. It's easier to burden the teacher. However, that hurts the learning opportunities of others in the classroom.
This is but one example of the teaching conditions the BCTF wants to negotiate or mediate.
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Maybe there should be an audit at the government level before they discuss everyone else' s wages.. Somewhere along the line isn't there a saying that they are representatives of the people….. I don't make those kind of wages and few people I know do…. so I know the government isn't able to understand because they don't live in the same kind of conditions. I think that before they cut anymore of the working peoples budgets, the government, and big corporations that tax us, the working people like Teachers, Bus drivers, Support Staff in any corporation etc….. a very public Audit of how they spend money should be done…. I'll bet some serious cuts could be made at the top before they heap their expensive lifestyles on the blue color worker…
In a society where the rich just get richer and the poor get poorer?? I mean there is very little middle class anymore. Maybe the should spend some time in our shoes to know exactly what they are doing to the adults of tomorrow…. the ones who will be in control of their health care, medical care and needs when these government officials are old and unable to take care of themselves…. Just a thought
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It's important to remember that the BCCPAC and the school admin associations all lobbied for the stripping of teacher contracts 10 years ago. They gloated in their newfound 'flexibility' and supposed power so as twisted as Christy and Gorman are, there are many non net zero 'leaders' who encouraged her. Trustees have 'power' but no funds or freedom from board office manipulations (the six-figure non net zeros who say all is fine and blame teachers)
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And the patern of theft from the public purse continues unabated.
It would seem that the days of Charles Dickens' most famous tales of rampant poverty being enforced and perpetuated by our chosen rulers have returned.
The next (current) financial collapse will make the Depression Era of the 1930's look like a pauper's dream-world.
Greece, the Cradle of Democracy, is burning. This is just a shadow of what is coming to the rest of civilisation.
Entropy prevails!
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I fear you are correct because, if one follows the trend lines of change, disaster awaits. Not this year, nor next year, but within 20 years Canada will come apart at the seams.
One simply has to examine history and see that, every casual move toward destruction of democracy, whether it is Harper's vote suppression campaign or Christy Clark's team hijacking the BC Liberal leadership race, moves us toward totalitarianism and eventual revolution.
We have become little better than Putin's Russian empire.
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And THAT scares the Hell out of me!!
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Bill 23: Retroactively cut all senior government employees wages by 50%
going back five years and remove their pensions.
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No, just make their pensions on a par with the remaining public servants. That would be a realistic and fair goal.
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You know they're fucking you, but you just don't know how bad it really is…..this should be criminal.
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Wonder what happened when the NDP was in power….. SAME THING, they simply fired the previous crowd, hired their buddies, and lined those pockets. No shortage of union hacks in that crowd either.
Just saying that the grass isn't necessarily greener…
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You are somewhat correct but the scale of salaries has grown immensely. I did know someone in the nineties who became a ministerial assistant. For him, it was the best job he ever had, much better than the period of unemployment that preceded his political gig. But his salary was well less than half of what gets paid today.
Frankly, if you accept what they are doing and merely turn a blind eye because you think others would do the same, you're part of the problem. We must achieve a higher standard of ethics and accountability.
Honest freedom of information would be a start.
Real Bob Mackin for a great lesson in what we could easily have if the Liberals lived up to promises. Open Letter to Premier Christy Clark
.
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I would really like to find a detailed outline of all the positions from Premier down in the Provincial Government. Is there a job description for these people somewhere? and the salary for each?
K Mason
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No, there is not much readily available. You can read through appointment letters of people on the Deputy Minister's Council but they're designed for public consumption, a PR effort, not a real effort to provide public information.
Deputy Ministers’ Council for British Columbia
At the Finance Ministry, you can search for documents that provide detailed schedules of expenditures for each fiscal year. That's the main source of material for this post.
.
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Valid points, however, I think the comparison needs to be parellel and not criss-cross… These ministers may make extra-ordinary amounts, but what do the average government employyes make? Not much…I hear. Then, we need to find out what the BCTF executives make. If their earnings are similar to that of the ministers, while the teachers make minimum wages, therein lies the problem.
I am in full agreement that the teachers are underpaid, but are they fighting the right enenmies? While the teachers, on strike, don't get paid, do the BCTF executives also not get paid?
It may be that the problem is that in any organization, union or not, the big whigs make thousands, if not hudreds f thousands of dollars more than the average worker…which brings me back to another protest we had not too long ago…
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This is outrageous! Do you know how many special education assistants or counsellors this could employ? There are people like this in every district too! Do you know how hard school PACs work to fundraise for just a tiny fraction of this money because schools are broke? No wonder!
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While your figures are correct, a few facts are missing that may assist in explaining a few of those raises. At least two of those individuals listed received a promotion leading to a job with more work/ responsibility from one ministry to another, which accounts for the pay raise (e.g. a 7% lift in the past year). I agree with your sentiments, especially where teachers are concerned; however, when you fail to see the whole picture your argument weakens, and in this case it needs strength because this is an issue that impacts all of us. While the salaries may seem out of proportion, one need only look at the private market to see what an equivalent position would make in order to see why those salaries are what they are. In order for our province to retain “the best,” we have to be competitive. One look at those private market salaries shows us we actually fail to compete with the private market, that those salaries are one third what could be made in an equivalent position elsewhere. Attacking others does not solve the problems with our education system. In fact, it may shift the focus away from teachers when they need our support more than ever.
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Attracting and retaining 'the best' is the standard refrain when justifying inequities in a system. It never explains or excuses the disparity and inequality that persists.. It's used in the most arbitrary and elitist way. The ever-sprawling bureaucracy need not exist in the first place–especially in a time of instant telecommunication.
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oh do you mean more work like I don't know, more students in the class, fewer EA's or more special ed students per class, do you mean that kind of work.
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That's hilarious! Net zero is not going to retain the 'best' teachers either! Such hypocrisy! What support for teachers are you talking about?
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So, continue the economic trends we see today with more and more wealth concentrated in the hands of a few. Freeze or cut the income and assets held by most people. Accept the rationalizations issued by policy makers who happen to be beneficiaries of their own policies. It is a road to ruin. An unfair society can only exist long term through application of force. Eventually, revolution follows. it has repeatedly throughout history.
BTW, there is no evidence that we are hiring the best of anything. David Hahn was paid (including supplementary pension) almost 10 times the salary of the CEO of WA State Ferries, a company with more passenger and vehicle loadings. Now Hahn is gone and the new guy earns less than half. Did anyone admit that Hahn was a mistake? Do we have a healthy ferry system for having paid very high executive salaries. Not at all.
Take the example of Premier Photo-Op hiring a low-level radio producer as a deputy press secretary. Was it necessary to pay her a multiple of what her private sector job paid? Or was it simply to bring her up to the 6-figure levels that her new colleagues enjoyed, in the public sector.
Let Caterpillar tell Ontario workers their wages must be halved or their jobs exported. Continue doing that and prepare ultimately to live in a world where the rich people fence their houses with razor wire and hire armed guards to escort them when they travel.
You have a choice. Live in a fair society or move toward totalitarianism.
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WOW! Thank you Norm!
Norm you've hit the nail on the head. This fight IS NOT ABOUT WAGES!
The current teacher job action against bill 22 is about the proposed removal of class size limits (NO LIMIT) and resources for students (yes, that's right classes will soon be over 30!). The language in bill 22 also allows the government to fire experienced teachers who are near or at the top of the pay scale and REPLACE them with with teachers with NO QUALIFICATIONS who will accept lower wages. Yes, we've all had a bad experience with teachers. In my education I have personally had far more positive experiences. In the school I work in 90% of teachers go above and beyond and are truly dedicated teachers – why are we being punished? Why are we torn apart in the public because of a few bad apples?
The damages that will be caused by bill 22 go further – For example: the 'one strike your out' clause, the government will no longer have to report class size to the public, teachers (yes the ones with the education and psychology degrees) will no longer be able to use their professional judgement in the classroom and instead will follow policies and decisions created by the government – (those WITHOUT the education degrees..)
I could go on… for now I will stop here…
In case you didn't know – The Education Improvement Fund is money that WAS ORDERED back into education by the supreme court due to contract stripping in 2005. That's like getting a speeding ticket and calling it a donation to the police…
Bill 22 will further deteriorate public education in BC.
I wonder… do the above listed government officials have kids in the public system? Oh wait – they can afford private education…
Sorry if this comes across as a rant – this bill needs to be stopped.
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Some of this is misleading though, isn't it? Many of these ministers' positions have changed in the past few years, and the salaries you're comparing are for other jobs. I'm for the teachers, but make sure the facts are straight!
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You don't notice a pattern?
A pattern that is identified throughout the G8 economies? BC is not alone. The game book in business and government is suppress wages, elevate executive remuneration.
Maybe you haven't noticed. Maybe you think its a healthy trend.
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To people who say we must give big raises to government execs so that we have “the best” people, can I ask what happened? Despite government pumping all this extra money to its top people, it is swirling down the toilet, less popular than anytime in recent memory. How come “the best” are producing shitty government?
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Wow! Vaughn Palmer has started to write truthfully about the government and Bill 22. I sure hope he doesn't get fired. Clark and Gorman's true intent is right there in black and white (in their own words) in a corporate newspaper.
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Keep in mind that BCTF executives are paid out of the Union Dues that teachers pay. The Union executives are, therefore, privately funded out of their members' pockets, not out of public monies.
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Perfectly true. Competence is not a hallmark of BC Liberals.
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Oh my god. I looked up what a Superintendent of Achievement was, and discovered that there are actually TWO of them. Here's a link to their job description: http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/departments/achievement/ My head nearly exploded from the irony in light of the current Net-Zero mandate for education.
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Excellent link! This situation provides a text-book example of the word IRONY. Trouble is, Clark, Abbott and others have not the slightest knowledge of the word nor the brains to figure out how it might be applied.
Another example from CKNW: “Education Minister George Abbott is appealing to the leadership of the BC Teachers' Federation to give him a call…”
It's like a home invader threatening you with a very large stick and saying, “Talk to me.”
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A clickable link to the job description of Superintendent of Achievement:
Achievement Division
.
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As a memeber of the private sector. I say cut all public pensions… Teachers, politicians, police. If OSS and CPP are good enough for us, well your teachers. figure it out.
P.S I agree with some of the strike issues but 15% wage increas and bereeavment pay if my neighbours dog dies.. the real world doesn't work this way. why should dis-ilusioned public sector workers be given all the frrebies on top of the nice kushy teaching job????
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We need reasonable pensions, fair to all. Most workers in the public service (executives not included) have their pensionable earnings capped by the amount specified under CPP. Even 20 plus years of service, leaves a person with a monthly retirement of less than $2,000.
The pensions taken by senior policy makers are more generous than those given ordinary workers by factors of 500% and more. This is from my February article about the Interior Health Authority:
“CEO Murray Ramsden retired voluntarily in 2009, He was not fired; he left with plaudits from his board and a pension worth about 10 times that of a typical hospital worker. Nevertheless, IHA provided an extra payment to him of about $200,000 on retirement. This wasn't a deferred payment scheme because, in the four years from 2005 to 2009, Ramsden's remuneration had grown by 32%, considerably more than the rate of increase enjoyed by most IHA workers.”
Read the whole story here: No net-zero reality for IHA executives
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Yet the graphic first shows how wages compare to other provinces (of course where these wages rank depends on who you ask). The BCTF could do a better job of marketing its agenda 😉
The BCTF is going to be hard pressed to win this battle of public opinion.
It's not just the government waging war on the union.
The public unions seem to be waging war on the tax payer who doesn't have as great of a deal with 2 months off and a guaranteed pension. Their earnings are certainly above average for someone with an arts degree (which most teachers have) in the public sector.
THAT is a more accurate comparison than comparing to other public unions in other provinces.
If it's not about the money, why doesn't the BCTF put forth a proposal that doesn't do raises or add significant costs to a budget with a deficit.
The hypocritical acts of the government here with giving itself raises is inexcusable, but still not a valid reason to back the BCTF demands. The way the petition is positioned at the end of the article makes it look like the article is not written from a neutral point of view. I would instead prefer a link to a petition to roll back government wages and eliminate these cushy positions.
The petition to reform MP pensions is a great example of this:
http://taxpayer.com/issues/federal/fed-reform-mp-pensions
I think you do a great job here of covering government self interest and corruption, but give me a break, the teachers have been getting raises far and above what people in the public sector have been getting, and are hardly in a position to find pity from others who have it tough.
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I have not written that school teachers should be paid higher salaries. The main issue today, yesterday and tomorrow is about quality of education. That has much to do with class composition and availability of resources to serve needy students.
Read through Justice Griffin's judgement in Supreme Court http://www.courts.gov.bc.ca/jdb-txt/SC/11/04/2011BCSC0469.htm
That demonstrates much about the Liberal government's double dealing. Remember, they are trying to start a war to save their political skins. They don't want you thinking about their incompetence and dishonesty.
Don't be diverted from real issues. You would be falling into the trap they designed.
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