NUPGE gives CFIB the big smack-down

The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) has come out swinging against the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) with the release of an independent research paper entitled: An examination of the Public Sector Wage Premium in Canada - A critique of the 2008 study by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) called Wage Watch: A comparison of public and private sector wages.

The NUPGE commissioned study challenges a flawed and biased analysis of public vs private sector wages released by the CFIB in the fall of 2008.

According to NUPGE

".... the CFIB has an established track record of hostility to the public sector. It may be that the CFIB is afraid the wages paid by many of their members will look too inadequate compared to wages in other sectors. It may be the lack of benefits, especially pensions, for workers in their sector will make it difficult for small business employers to attract employees. It’s certainly odd the CFIB hasn’t made the connection that public sector workers spend their salaries in the stores, and purchase the services, of CFIB members.

Over time this incorrect CFIB study began to be quoted as fact in the media and elsewhere. We kept hearing that this dubious large differential really did exist. The mere fact this study was obviously incorrect was apparently not enough to invalidate it. CFIB spokespeople themselves peddled the purported conclusions of this study at every opportunity."

You can read the NUPGE web article on this topic by clicking here. And you can download the complete NUPGE commissioned analysis by clicking here.