He said budget surpluses will continue until staffing levels increase, but those levels will never be reached, he said, until the government starts spending more money. Decentralization may suffer Workman further speculated that decentralization may not work unless the Nunavut government spends more to attract and retain employees. Right now, the Nunavut government's work force is only at 75 per cent of it's full strength. In his budget address March 23, Ng commended civil servants for continuing to deliver Nunavut government services despite chronic staffing shortages. But Workman says the figures in Ng's budget don't show any real gratitude.
Workman says it's irresponsible of Ng to budget for future surpluses.
He says, in fact, that those surpluses will likely come back to haunt the Nunavut government when it tries to negotiate a beefed-up formula financing agreement with Ottawa, Workman said. The Nunavut government and 1,200 of its workers are in the midst of collective agreement negotiations. The union is proposing an overhaul to the northern allowance system and the restoration of vacation travel assistance. But so far, government negotiators have turned a cold shoulder to the union's proposal, Workman said, and collective agreement talks are now on hold until May. Ng's budget gives Workman little reason to hope that the Nunavut government has changed its bargaining stance.