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Many of us sit down each year with our bosses for a performance review.

We are hoping for a big salary increase and a bonus that would make a Wall Street banker blush. What we usually get is a raise of three per cent, which is slightly lower than the hike in cost of living, and a lament about the slow economy. If we are lucky, we get a nice lunch and a slightly better parking spot.

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We hate it, but deep down you know the state of the provincial economy and the context of your industry. So you head back to work, pick up a trade magazine and hope that things are better next year.

In some ways I feel for members of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 615 in Saskatoon. The impact of the Great Recession on the markets meant that, along with all of the other unions representing city workers, the ATU was required to make some concessions on its members’ pensions. No one enjoyed that. Eight of the nine civic unions signed on to a new deal that provided modest wage increases but a less lucrative pension plan.