With an employee satisfaction rating  that is fast approaching a single digit , City Hall might want to look at how they have been handling the negotiations with city employees.  From all accounts on the street, there  is a growing unhappiness  with  City Hall and that translates into a less productive staff.

The latest move by the City brass is to publish a stat that suggests the Prince George workers have been receiving more money than their counterparts in Kelowna, Nanaimo,  Kamloops , and Victoria .

The people who produced the survey obviously have not  heard of the sunshine tax. That tax, for their benefit, is the difference in wages generally paid to workers in the private sector that show, unequivocally, that you receive a smaller wage in any of the mentioned cities because, you guessed, it the climate is more favourable.

They should be asking the rank and file before trying to pass this kind of statistic off to the people. Did anyone factor in the weather when they drew the stats or is that another  example of  trying to convince the public that  we in Prince George are much better off taxation wise than these other peer communities?

And what do the stats say about City Hall?  Afterall, the wages are the result of  previous  contract negotiations which  the City  approved?  So whose fault is it that  City workers are being paid more than  the folks in those other cities?

Want to make an example?  Let's  try Quesnel, they are close at hand , want to do a comparison why not  try taxes as well while we are at it?

If the city negotiators want to show that they are being fair in the talks, start by using valid comparisons, or failing that, ask the workers of these other peer communities what it would take by way of a salary for them to come to work in PG. Don't be surprised at the results.

I'm Meisner and that's one man's opinion.