PAGE 4, WEDNESDAYDOCTOBER 18, 1983. WHITBY FREE PRESS whitby Volce of the County Town Michael Ian Burgess, i 'rhe only Whltby newspaper independently owned and operated by Whitby F Pub Pubil sher -Managing Ed itorj reid~iens for WhilWy residents. iIished every Wednesday by M.B.M. Publlshing and Photography Inc, Phone 668-611Il The Free Press Building, 13 1 Brock Street North. P.O. Box 206, Whitby, O)nt. rIIMOTHY BAINES Commnilty Editor ANDY THOMSON Advertising Manager Second Class Mail Registration No. 5351 Public servantsare .paid »too wl by W. ROGER WORTH FInally, Canadians and Canadian governm ents are waklng Up to the fact that their employees, the nation's public servants, are paid very well indeed (and may even be overpaid) for the functions they perforrn. Whats more,. people in every walk of life under- stand only too weli that few public sector workers were laid off during the last two recessionary years. At the same time, hundreds of thousands of, ordinary tax-paylng Canadians In non-government jobs were forcedto accept extensive layoffs, and a lot of workers are stIll In that category. In other cases, jobs- simply disappeared as companies faced bankruptcy or receivership. To make matters worse, public'sector.workers were vehement In their compiaints about gover- nment policies that restralned their wages-during the period. Nevertheless, most of the civil servan- ts recelved salary increases of at least f ive per- cent per year. ln Europe, for example, many cQuntries have placed onerous restraints on public sector em- ployees, even to the point where saiary increases are Indeed Iess than the national Inflation rate. In Britain, the government Is allowing civil service salaries to rise oniy 3 percent, while Inflation is siightly more than 4 percent. The powerful public' sector unions, of course, can be expected to put up stiff resistance to any such. Ideas In this country. Aiready, unions iný British Columbia are demonstrating against t.hat province's far-reaching restraint program, and u nions ln other jurisdictions are complaining and threatening similar activities if they don't get what they want. .Nevertheless, one simple fact remains. When postal wai kers, earn $23,000 to $24;000 per year and experienced teachers get $30eOOO t1o $40,000 or more for working ten months per, year, "the unempioyed, underemployed.and other taxpayers who consider themselves lucky to have jobs believe they are being short-changed. They are. Meanwhiie, ln the prIvate -sector, companies were forced to hoid saiary increase well beiow that level and, at smaller firms attempting to sur- vive the recession, saiary Increases were miniscule. Even unionized employees were ac- ceptlng "givebacks" and other' concessions that In fact reduced their pay packages but ailowed them to keep their jobs. Many people, it.seems, believe this coddling of public sector workers during the iast two years was unfair. How else to explain a nation-wide poil where Canadia 'ns supported further restraints on federai and provincial. civil service wages by a margIn of more than 64 percent. Something has been amiss, and the man (or woman), in the street knows ItL While some Canadian governments'aire even nAow making noises about controlling public sec- tor salaries.durIng the next year or more, when. present.restraint programs are completed, they should perhaps be paylng more attention to the Issue. The morning paper regaied us recentiy with a story about an Ontario Hydro janitor, 46 years old, who was fired from a job he'd held for tweive years because he stole a quarter. A board of arbitration, in a majority award, upheld the firing for two reasons. The first was that the janitor was considered to be in a position of, trust. The second was that'he had previously been given a warning after steaiing two dollars from a stand operated by the CNIB. Both times, the janitor ciaimed that he was only borrowing. i would rest easier about the whoie thing if i didn't know that I too have stolen $2.25 in my time - perhaps even a shade more than that. And I would rest easier if i could be sure that On- tario Hydro is just as zealous about protecting aIl the two and a quarters we've paid themn over the years as it was about the two and a quarter that the janitor ifted. Are there no executives at Ontario Hydro who don't chisel on their expense accounts, just a littie? Are there no- secretaries who do not mail a personal letter now and then using the company's franking systemn'? Are there no cierks there who do not take a few bail point pens home for the kids from time t o time? Or is it only this poor benighted janitor who is a- touch iight- fingered? He, pinched the two dollars from the biind on his own initiative, apparently. But they set hlm up for the quarter. The security staff, concerned about com- plaints.from empioyees about the ioss of change and subway tokens from their desks at night, laid a trap for the criminai -mastermind behind it. Cieverly, they marked ninety-nine cents in coin and then pianted them in an open drawer. They shifted some ceiiing panels so they couid stake out the drawer from overhead. They saw the janitor take not the ninety-nine cents but a quarter of it, and put it in his pocket. He was then taken to the security office where he admitted taking the coin, apparentiy without their having to use the rubber hoses on him. Case ciosed. DUM DA DUM DUM. i know, i know. t's the principie of the thing, isn't it? But there was a time when we cut hands off people for steaiing a ioaf of bread. We quit doîng that, not because we approved of steaiing, but because the punishment, in a reasonabie society, didn't fit the crima It seems to me that Ontario Hydro, its security staff and the arbitra- tion board got hung up on principles and threw com- mon sense and sweet reason out the window. Or perhaps I'm crazy. Ferhaps they shouid aiso have wack- ed his hand off. That way he'd stand a better chance of being unempioyed permanently. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Benefit for shooting victim Dear Editor, On Nov. 25 at Ander- son C.V.I. in Whitby, Greg- Barton in cooperation with the Studen Couneil of An- derson' C.V.1. will be holding a- benefit in aid, of Miss Barbara'Tur- nbull. As- you wil already know, she was shot in the neck during a Sept. 23 robbery atý the Beekers MiIk Store on- Benedet Dr. in Missîssauga, where she worked. The shootixig has left Barbara paralyzed from the neck down., Theý purpose of the benefit is to help pay for medical expenses, not covered by O.H..P. ABl proceeds raised by t-his event wiil be han- ded over to Mrs. Joan Dunn, theorganîzer of the trust fund for Bar- bara. Rtis hoped that you wil be able to help with some publicity of this event in order that sehools will foilow suit. (and do the same as we have) What has happened to Barbara is a tragie event and since nothing can be done to change the past, we must look forward to the future and think of ways to help her live as close to a normal . lie as possible. Greg Barton Elizabeth Cresc. Whitby