THE NDP looks after its
own, its “own” being anyone
in the government service,
teachers, community college
instructors and suchlike.

Come the next election, the
goodies it has approved for them in
the past year or so will be worth a
stack of votes.

Most of us know that healthy
(make that unhealthy) increases
have been given to government
workers since Mikey & Co. came
to power. Six per cent for union
members in 1992, for instance,
when the private sector was getling
less than half that. Hospital work-
ers got over 14% in three years,
counting “pay equity” and similar
dodges. :

Bur other goodies have come in
on carpet slippers and have attract-
ed no public attention. Perhaps the
media have been too busy with
refugee and human rights sob sto-
ries,

I got on to this when a retired
teacher complained to me about his
pension and all the recent benefits
that have accrued to him.

It wasn’t that he was getting too
lite, He thought he was getting
TOO MUCH. With a mere 10
years’ service behind him, his pen-
sion amounted to $642 a month.
Indexed, of course, having risen
from $471 when it started.

But as of Jan. 1, he got extra
goodies worth nearly $142 a
month.

“The taxpayer is being taken,"
he said.

The extras include 100% of the
MSP premium instead of half, pre-
mium-free Extended Health
E-onefits, and a premium-free den-
tal plan. That works out at $1,700 a
year. Per person.

Ever the wary sleuth, I checked
with the B.C, Superannuation
Commission to find out what this
new bonanza is costing the taxpay-
er. a

It claimed it’s not costing the
taxpayer anything because the
teachers’ pension plan has been
restructured. There will be less
indexing. But it couldn't tell me
how much less. That will depend

Collins

ON THE OTHER HAND

on how the funds do fram which |
the money is drawn.

Getting facts on this sort of
thing is like drawing teeth.
Governments and their offspring
organizations are like that. Buta
letter put out last year by the
Retired Teachers’ Association con-
tradicted the commission's view.

It stated that 100% of the MSP
premiums would be paid by the
pension plan and the government.
The dental and extra health benefits
would be paid for by the pension
plan.

Ken Smith, the pension authori-
ty at the B.C, Teachers’ Federation,
was frank about it. The bottom line,
he admitted, was that the taxpayers
were footing the bill,

His reasoning was that the
employers, meaning in this case the
school boards, pay more into the
pension plan than the employees
do.

He could also have pointed out,
but didn't, that all che money
comes from the taxpayer anyway,
teachers being paid entirely by the
public.

Sniffing further along the trail {
found out that with a few minor
differences these benefits are

almost universal. Retired and active |

government workers, active teach-
ers and community college people
are also getting treats.

The cost has to be enormous,

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there being 200,000 active govern-
ment employees and 59,000 retired
ones. Teachers number 40,000,
with another 10.000 retired. And
there are about 6,500 community
college instructors.

None of this information came
from the B.C. Government
Employees Union, by the way.
Once it knew that Doug Dreadful
was on the line, no calls were
returned.

We have created a privileged
class, one among many in today's
weird society.

Look at it this way. If you're an
ordinary Joe, medicare for you and
your wile costs $64 a month, you
pay your own and vour family’s
dental bills, and the glories of
extended health care are probably
out of reach.

If you want glasses you pay for
them. ff you want false teeth or
crutches you pay for them.

But if you're a retired teacher,
an active teacher or a government
employee — be it as a clerk ora
deputy minister — 75% of the cost
of your false teeth or a new hair-
picce, etc., is refunded. (The
amount may vary in a few cases,
but that’s the average.)

Your dependants are covered,
too, including children up to 25
years of age if they ure going to
university.

All of the people concerned will
say that these goodies were negoti-
ated, So what's the beef? The beef
is that it's casy to negotiate such
things when the guy on the other
side of the table doesn't have to
pay for them. They then become
throw-away items, tossed into the
potas sweeteners,

There's more. Watch for it on
Wednesday.

'  TUNE-UP

Alarm fines a fine
deal for West Van

FINES FOR security system false
alarms are proving profitable for
West Vancouver.

At a Feb. 6 meeting, West
Vancouver District. Council
agreed to hire a permanent part-
time billing clerk to continue fin-
ing homeowners whose security
systems have local police dashing
out to investigate false alarms.

Last year council agreed to
impose fines on false alarms that.
waste police time.

During a six-month trial peri-
od ending in mid-January, 2,153
false alarms were logged and
$52,250 worth of fines were
imposed.

The cost of hiring a billing
clerk and buying the necessary
computer and software was
$16,186.14.

Not all of the fines have been
paid, but homeowners who didn’t
shell out when invoiced, will see -
the fine attached to their tax bills. -

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