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December 15, 2020 - No. 84
New Brunswick Government's Attempt to Impose Wage Freeze
on All Public Sector Workers
No to Negation of Workers' Rights! 
• Public Sector Workers Oppose Government Dictate
- Interview, Simon Ouellette
Manitoba Government's Anti-Labour Legislation
• Bill 16 Targets Workers and Their Defence Organizations
Stop Paying the Rich! Increase Investments in Social Programs!
• Dismantling Quebec's Public Health System Cannot Be
Justified
- Pierre Soublière
Education is a Right Podcast
• Why Are Governments Allergic to Public Solutions to the Pandemic?
New Brunswick Government's Attempt to Impose Wage Freeze on
All Public Sector Workers
April
12, 2018. CUPE health care workers rally in Fredericton in defence
of the right to negotiate acceptable wages and working conditions.
On December 11, New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs informed
officials of the Canadian Union of Public Employees New Brunswick at a
meeting that his government is planning to impose a wage freeze
followed by wage restraint on all the public sector workers in the
province, unionized and non-unionized. This comes in the midst of the
stresses and anxiety caused by pandemic working conditions. Already,
for twelve years, New Brunswick workers have been fighting against
wage freezes imposed by successive governments which have declared they
have "wage restraint mandates."
As a justification for the imposition of this dictate regarding
public sector workers' contract negotiations, Premier Higgs told the
press: "What we want to do is manage expectations, and turn this
negotiation into thinking different about what we learned from COVID.
Let's not turn it into a lot of discussion around salaries we're trying
to protect,
but what we can do differently to meet our needs and what we learned
through COVID."
What workers learned in a dramatic way from the pandemic is that
they
are the essential factor in preserving and advancing society, and that
their living and working conditions and their say in these conditions
make the difference between life and death. They have learned that
economic recovery must be human-centred, with public enterprise under
the control of the people to look after the well-being of the people.
The elimination of public sector workers' ability to negotiate wages
and working conditions that are acceptable to themselves
aggravates all the problems of the sector and affects the delivery of
public services. This announcement will affect retention of public
servants as well as the attraction of new public servants. The
destruction of the public service in favour of hiring private
contractors to carry out their work will further destroy the fabric of
society as everyone is further forced to fend for themselves.
What
the Premier seems to believe is that COVID-19 provides "an opportunity"
to impose dictates in the name of high ideals about protecting people's
health. It is a sick mind-set behind which is the pay-the-rich
schemes demanded by the narrow private interests which have taken over
the decision-making power and operation of state agencies, beginning
with the premier's office. Higgs' "what we can do differently to meet
our needs" shows he makes no bones about his government's stand
that narrow private interests are the key to post-pandemic recovery and
that all society's resources must be put under their control and
ownership. Workers' Forum stands firmly with the New Brunswick
workers
facing this renewed assault, and calls upon all Canadian
workers to support them in their just fight. It is as clear as
clear can be that our future and our security lie in the fight to
affirm of the rights of all.
- Interview, Simon Ouellette -
Simon Ouellette is the Communications Representative, Canadian
Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Maritimes (New Brunswick and Prince Edward
Island).
Workers' Forum: In its December 11 press release, the
Canadian Union of Public Employees New Brunswick, opposes the
imposition of a wage freeze on public sector workers by the Blaine
Higgs government. Can you tell us more about this?
 Simon Ouellette:
CUPE New Brunswick organized a press conference on the afternoon of
December 11 immediately after meeting with the Premier. At our request,
the Premier agreed to meet with the elected officials of the major CUPE
locals in the province, large locals that are without a collective
agreement at this time.
Some have been without a contract since 2016, the majority of them have
been without a contract since 2018. We're talking about 20,500 workers
who are struggling with governments that have not wanted to negotiate
with them in recent years, both the Liberals who let negotiations drag
on and the Conservatives in power at this time.
In the days leading up to our meeting with the Premier, we learned
through the media that the government intends to impose a wage freeze
on the entire public service. The Premier confirmed to us at our
meeting that he intends to impose a wage freeze for the first year and
then a wage restraint on the entire public service, unionized and
non-unionized.
This statement is not being made at the bargaining tables. It is
being made publicly, in the newspapers, in a politicized manner. It's
shocking to hear that, especially in a time of pandemic.
There are negotiations going on right now, among health care workers
in particular, but they are not real negotiations because the
government's offer to them is a wage freeze followed by wage restraint,
which is exactly what we heard at our meeting. There's really no room
for bargaining in there.
WF: What is CUPE's position on this government dictate?
SO: We've been saying for years that wages have been
stagnating for at least a dozen years. We have faced zero increases, one
per cent increases, wage restraint mandates from previous
administrations. Wage increases over all these years have been well
below the increase in the cost of living. All of this has resulted in
our
members falling behind in terms of their real purchasing power. We want
to counteract that.
The cost of living is rising. In New Brunswick, the cost of rent is
out of control right now, there is a housing crisis in the province.
New Brunswick is the province in Canada where tenants' rights are
weakest. It is a paradise for landlords. Gasoline and heating are
extremely expensive. The electricity bill is much higher in New
Brunswick than
in Quebec for example. We have small province wages with big city bills.
In our opinion, the best way out of the pandemic is by stimulating
sustainable growth, putting money in the pockets of our workers, into
our public infrastructure, into our public systems. You can't stimulate
growth through subsidies to corporations.
CUPE is going to fight the imposition of a wage freeze and wage restraints.
At the end of the day, the people who have the last word are our
members. It's up to them at each table to decide what they want to do.
We have faced the pandemic, there is hope at the end of the tunnel
now, we have been able to come together and stand together against this
virus. If we can stand up to a virus, we can stand up to this
government as well. That's why we have our slogan "Front Line Heroes
Shouldn't Get Zeros."
By frontline workers, we mean public service workers, and I include
workers in the private sector as well, like those in grocery stores,
retail and others who do phenomenal work. Having a base salary for
everyone that's decent is like the rising tide that lifts all boats.
It can't go on the way it is. We have retention and recruitment
crises in almost every area of public service. The government of New
Brunswick does not recognize this problem and it is not its desire to
solve it either.
It is not a new problem in the Maritimes. Many people who have
wanted to improve their working conditions have moved away. New
Brunswick has had some population declines in the last few years.
People of working age are leaving in large numbers. Those who stay are
the older people who need care, but there are fewer people of
working age who stay because they want to make a life elsewhere.
 Things
have changed a lot in the public sector. Before, in the 1970s and
1980s, a worker wanted to finish his or her career in the public
service, with a good pension, a good job, a good wage. This includes
workers in the trades, such as welders and others. People did
everything they could to get a job in the public sector. Now it's the
other
way around. The private sector wants the province to cover the costs of
training, wants the province to pick up the young people who come out
of schools and community colleges, do their apprenticeship years and
then have them end up in the private sector. Big corporate giants like
Irving have put a lot of pressure on the provincial government to
reverse the situation so that the private sector can have its workers
trained from the public purse. It's a form of outsourcing labour costs
by large corporations.
I think that working for the public sector is something that makes
one very proud. But working conditions and wages have declined. Workers
deserve better wages and working conditions. That is the issue. CUPE
made it very clear to the Premier that it does not agree with the wage
freeze/restriction mandate the Higgs government wants to
impose on public sector workers.
Manitoba Government's Anti-Labour Legislation
The Manitoba Federation of Labour, labour law firms and public and
private sector unions have all denounced the anti-labour legislation
introduced by the Pallister government, in particular Bill 16, the Labour Relations Amendment Act,
for its aim of legalizing the denial of workers' rights. National Union
of Public and General
Employees (NUPGE) President Larry Brown pointed out that "Bill 16 is
particularly offensive in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, as
frontline workers are risking their lives to provide crucial public
services to Manitobans." In a November 27 press release, the
Public Service Alliance of Canada notes that "Premier Brian Pallister
is
taking a page out of Alberta Premier Jason Kenney's book, who makes
undermining workers' labour rights practically his full-time job."
The Manitoba Conservative government introduced 33 pieces of
legislation on October 14, several of which amend labour legislation.
The most significant is Bill 16, the Labour Relations Amendment Act,
which would make significant changes, all designed to weaken and
hamstring workers' organizations and make it easier for
employers and the state to interfere with workers' right to organize
collectively to defend their interests. Almost all the new bills
introduced on October 14, with the exception of those that dealt with
measures to address the COVID-19 pandemic, have not been passed or even
debated in the legislature as of December 4.
Bill 16 is part of the restructuring of state arrangements by
neo-liberal forces at the provincial and federal levels designed to
facilitate schemes to pay the rich and to dismantle existing
arrangements that are considered an obstacle to their unfettered power.
To cover up that intent legislation that diminishes protection of
workers' rights and
weakens their collectives is couched in the language of "choice" and
"protection." The Pallister Conservatives, like every other cartel
party, claims that because they were elected they have a mandate to do
whatever they please and call it the will of the people. Government
House Leader Kelvin Goertzen told the media: "Our government was
entrusted by Manitobans with the largest back-to-back majorities in
over 100 years and our legislative agenda supports our mandate to
protect Manitobans."
Bill 16 "amends" the Manitoba Labour Relations Act by introducing
changes that give more power to employers and the state itself to
interfere in the affairs of workers' organizations, make it more
difficult for workers to organize themselves collectively, and gives
more power to employers to dictate working conditions and to act as
judge, jury
and executioner with the power to fire workers for what the employer
deems inappropriate activity during a strike. Bill 16 has many features
similar to the anti-labour legislation of the Kenney government in
Alberta and legislation passed at the federal level by the Harper
Conservatives.
Highlights of Bill 16
- Employers will be able to fire workers for actions during a
strike, replacing the current restriction that workers could only be
fired if convicted of a criminal offence;
- Before a vote for union certification can be held, the Labour
Relations Board must be satisfied that the union applying for
certification has the support, through signed cards and a vote by
secret ballot, of 40 per cent of the "anticipated
workforce" (currently 40 per cent of the actual workforce). There
is no definition of "anticipated" but it would certainly impact seasonal work like
construction sites. If the board
determines that the union does not have the support of 40 per cent of
the "anticipated workforce" it can delay the vote or dismiss the
certification application. This would also allow employers in many
workplaces to argue that COVID-19 has made the current workforce far
less than the "anticipated workforce";
- Lowers the percentage of support required for a vote to be held for
workers to change unions from 45 per cent to 40 per cent;
- Lowers the percentage of support required for a vote on decertification of a union from 50 per cent to 40 per cent;
- Completely eliminates the requirement for an employer to give any
notice, with 90 days currently required, of technological changes that
would affect a significant number of workers;
- Eliminates the requirement that an employer that has purchased a
business keep the workers, their union and their collective agreement
if the board is satisfied that the "character of the business is
substantially changed";
- Removes the automatic involvement of the board in settling a first
collective agreement through arbitration, making it conditional on the
board's determination of whether the party applying for arbitration had
bargained in good faith, and eliminates the current provision that the
board can arbitrate a subsequent collective agreement if a strike or
lockout has exceeded 60 days;
- Mandates that public sector unions have their financial statements
audited by an independent auditor and provide the audited financial
statements to members. This would expose the union's financial position
to employers. Similar legislation was passed by the Harper government
federally in 2015 and subsequently repealed, and has been passed by the
Kenney government in Alberta.
This government attack on workers and their collectives comes on the
heels of the defeat in the courts of the Pallister government's 2017
Bill 29, the Public Services Sustainability Act which would
have frozen public sector wages. In June 2020, Court of
Queen's Bench Justice Joan McKelvey ruled that Bill 29 violated
workers' charter rights and "left no room for a meaningful collective
bargaining process on issues crucial to union memberships."
Stop Paying the Rich! Increase Investments in Social Programs!
- Pierre Soublière - 
One of the things the COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the fore is
the extent to which private interests have a stranglehold over all
aspects of our lives, including our mode of governance.
This situation came tragically to light with the incapacity of
seniors' homes and long-term care facilities to face the pandemic and
the need for public services managed and organized to answer the needs
of patients and care providers. For example, one of the ongoing
problems that continue during the second wave is staff mobility in
homes,
because of staff shortages and the dependence on private employment
agencies who send workers from one workplace to another, increasing the
dangers of transmission of the virus for them and the people they care
for.
Following the tragic deaths of the first wave, the questioning of
homes managed for profit at the expense of the well-being of seniors
was such that the Premier of Quebec felt it necessary to suggest that
the government could possibly "nationalize" private long-term care
homes. At about the same time, the Quebec Finance Minister asked the
Centre for Interuniversity Research and Analysis on Organizations
(CIRANO) to conduct a study on the place of health in the economic
recovery of Quebec.
Founded in 1994, CIRANO is subsidized by, among others, the Quebec
government and its "partners" -- federal and Quebec institutions such
as the Business Development Bank of Canada and the Caisse de
dépôt et de placement du Québec -- and by a number of
big private enterprises, such as BMO Financial Group, Manulife
Financial
Corporation, Power Corporation of Canada, Bell Canada and Rio Tinto.
Studies produced by this centre generally approach economic and
social programs from the point of view of promoting the privatization
of public services and social programs. Here are the titles of two such
studies: "Public-private partnerships: an option to discover," and "The
private sector within a public health care system: the French
example." The aim of the latter is explicit, that is, to "put an end to
the greatest obstacle to improving the Canadian and Quebec health care
system, that is, the irrational opposition by a number of political and
lobby groups to a more active and integrated role for health, insurance
and direct supply institutions and enterprises, for profit or not for
profit, in our health care system."
 This
is
exactly the approach taken in the study commissioned by the Quebec
government, published last September and entitled "Health care at the
heart of the economic recovery in Quebec." On the matter of seniors'
homes, casting aside all evidence to the contrary, the researchers
state: "Government does not have the necessary means nor the
expertise to take up the concept of seniors' homes on its own [...] By
seniors' homes, we mean private apartment buildings destined to
accommodate autonomous and semi-autonomous seniors [...] The private
sector, for profit or not for profit, has the required infrastructure
and competences needed to realize this project for seniors adapted to
their
health conditions."
Having
declared that the government has neither the means nor the expertise,
the authors of the report suggest that the government should
nevertheless subsidize these private seniors' homes' medical equipment
and services. In other words, public funds should be put at the
disposal of private owners and their shareholders so that they can
continue to make maximum profits on the backs of seniors, without
themselves having to reinvest the monies extracted from seniors into
the services they provide.
On the issue of health workers, having listed the existing problems
in health care which are well-known, the authors of the report suggest
as a "solution" the improvement of "work organization" through a set of
strategies aimed at "optimizing the utilization and contribution of
workers." These "strategies" generally amount to "doing more with
less." They are precisely the strategies -- now being imposed through
ministerial decree -- which have led to the present situation which is
literally pushing frontline workers to the brink and allowing the
relentless dismantling of the public health system. Largely due to the
efforts of workers and their organizations to make their working
conditions and the overall conditions in health care known, it can be
predicted that these "strategies" will have tragic consequences
for the well-being of the people. Clearly, the workers will have to
step up their fight in order to defend their rights and the rights of
all, as well as political organizing to put forward independents
politics of their own which remove the system of party governance which
serves the rich.
Education is a Right Podcast
In this episode Dr. Shane Miersch, an antibody engineer in the
Sidhu Laboratory at the University of Toronto, discusses the status of
the lab's research for a publicly developed COVID-19 treatment. He also
informs about the problem of governments refusing to develop public
solutions to the pandemic which will prepare Canada for future
outbreaks. Dr. Miersch specifically describes the experience he and his
colleagues have had trying to get the federal government to recognize
the value they are creating instead of handing out large amounts of
public funds to private pharmaceutical monopolies that want to profit
from the pandemic. Listen to the podcast here.
(To access articles individually click on the black headline.)
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