Wednesday, September 23, 2009

912...Political Staffers Make Too Much Money

From the Regina Leader-Post comes the story that NDP Leader Dwain Lingenfelter is calling for political staffers' wages to be rolled back.

If you work on the Hill, a constit office, Mr. Lingenfelter is gunning for you and your pay cheque. And you know how this stuff works, if one province decides to freeze pay for you, they all will. Soon that 7 dollars an hour you are making [add it up, how many of your friends outside of politics are on call 100 hours a week?] will seem like the good old days.

In his first official press conference since being elected as an MLA in a byelection Monday night, Mr. Lingenfelter took particular aim at salaries received by some of those who work for cabinet ministers.

You know, I think that Mr. Lingenfelter, like the people who brought in donation and spending limits for elections, I think that his heart is in the right place. His brain though is not.

It is really undemocratic to pay those of you who work on the Hill less than the rates paid off the Hill. And it is elitist. If Mr. Lingenfelter de professionalizes the industry the only ones who will be available to work for politicians are those who don't really need the money: young adults who come from a background of privilege, trust funders, members of the elites. From the look of the young staffers on the Hill we may actually be at that point in Ottawa now.

In the same way that professionalizing the Olympics made the Olympics more open to all classes of people and made sport more egalitarian, offering careers and proper wages to those who support MPs, MLAs, MNAs etcetera is the best way of ensuring that the people who support our elected members are more representative of the community as a whole.

Ditto election spending limits; Obama couldn't happen in Canada.

WFDS

1 comment:

  1. History shows that Mr. "Link" takes really, really, REALLY good care of his staffers...

    Sigh... I'll have to disagree with him. Staffers are most often (note the exaggerating tone in my voice) pretty much low-paid slaves of their particular MP/MLA/etc. Giving your boss 7 day-a-week on-call status, work "overtime" with no paid overtime. Give up any meaningful relationships. Survive on a diet of hotel food, fast food, coffee and alcohol (okay, that last point may be celebrated by some). Get used to the fact that anything bad is your fault, and anything good that happens was your bosses idea. You get to ward off angry/sadistic protesters. You basically are a glorified telemarketer/customer service rep for your boss - always ensuring you don't piss ANYONE off - even if they sound like an enemy plant.

    Considering all this, your salary usually starts off at around the same as a telemarketer. You really have to LOVE politics and the political milieu to enjoy this treatment... like many of us do. If you're great with customer service, you'd be a great staffer. Unfortunately (for the MPs/MLAs) many times the person is chosen based on some bit of work they did on a campaign, or out of a favor to someone... That's when you get the "idiot assistants" who constantly F up...

    Still... it IS a great job for "politeo-philes"... like us.

    Having said all that, I think Link would be the best Saskatchewan Premier. He's a good man, with broad appeal - and certainly a good opponent for Brad Wall...

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