CUPE B.C.'s Paul Faoro rips Fraser Institute study on wages

Whenever the Fraser Institute criticizes public-sector wages, it's going to rile those who negotiate those compensation packages.

So it shouldn't come as a huge surprise that the Canadian Union of Public Employees has taken aim at a new report suggesting that B.C. government workers make more money than their counterparts in the private sector.

According to the Fraser Institute, the difference is 6.7 percent, based on Statistics Canada's Labour Force Survey data.

That's not all. The Hayekian think tank then heaped on more data about pensions, early retirement, job security, and absenteeism to make things look even cushier for the bureaucrats.

CUPE, of course, wasn't going to just sit silent and take this.

In a news release, the union's secretary-treasurer Paul Faoro, noted discrepancies between this year's survey and those of the two previous years.

"In 2013, they claimed there was a 37.5 percent premium, and today they've admitted that number is actually 90 percent lower—though you won't find that in their news release," Faoro declared. "But facts have never stood in the Fraser Institute's way. Not only do they not acknowledge how shoddy and flawed their previous study was, they still use their findings to bash wages and benefits for working people, and to advocate for even less retirement security for all workers."

As for pensions, Faoro rightly points out that workers pay into them through payroll deductions or by deferring income. And the Fraser Institute offers no data on how workers of colour and aboriginal people see their pay increase when they're employed in the public sector.

In a final retort, Faoro pointed out that the Fraser Institute is funded by the Koch brothers, two right-wing U.S. billionaires who've also financed the rise of the Tea Party. Ouch.