In its September 22 bulletin, the Canadian
Union of Public Employees New Brunswick (CUPE NB) reports that seven of
its 10 locals engaged in efforts to renew their collective agreements,
some of which expired as long as four years ago, have been given strong
strike votes. Workers are currently engaged in centralized bargaining
with the government for wages that they consider acceptable and that
will assist in addressing the problem of attracting and retaining
workers in public services. The issue of working conditions must be
resolved through negotiations with the locals.
CUPE
NB reports that votes in favour of strike action hover around the 90
per cent range, with high voter turnout. For example, court
stenographers voted 96 per cent in favour of a strike, with a 96 per
cent voter turnout; community college workers voted 93 per cent in
favour of a strike with a 100 per cent member turnout, while WorkSafe
NB employees voted 83 per cent for a strike and had a voter turnout of
88 per cent.
As of September 22, approximately 9,400 of its 22,000 membership had held their strike votes.
Local 1252, the largest local representing close to 11,000 health
care workers, held its strike vote from September 23-25, with the votes
to be counted today, September 27. The last two locals, representing
approximately 1,800 workers, will soon be posting their voting dates.
CUPE NB President Stephen Drost told Workers' Forum that the vote shows that workers are determined to stand up for their rights and get wages that they deem acceptable.
"Our fight is not just for us, but for public services and for the people of New Brunswick overall," he said.
New
Brunswick is now experiencing its fourth COVID-19 wave, with an
increase in cases and hospitalizations, in particular in
intensive care units. Workers are making tremendous efforts to
cope with the
situation and are doing so within a context where their dignity and
conditions are under attack by the provincial government.
Adding insult to injury, the New Brunswick government recently filed
an unfair labour practice and bad-faith bargaining complaint against
the union, alleging that a CUPE local had distributed a poster with
false claims about management's offer.
"This is very disappointing and appears to indicate CUPE is more
interested in going on strike than it is in making a reasonable and
good-faith effort to conclude a collective agreement," the complaint
alleges.
The union is refuting the government's claims as factually false and ill-intentioned.
Through its assertions on bargaining, the government is denying that
for over 15 years successive governments in New Brunswick have been
imposing a wage-suppression mandate on public sector workers that has
impoverished workers and exacerbated problems in public services. The
government has also gone so far as to introduce demands
for concessions, notably with regard to pensions, within a centralized
bargaining process that was supposed to deal solely with wages. The
government also refuses to acknowledge the problems of retention and
recruitment that exist in public services, which are driving a good
many public
service workers out of the province in search of better conditions.
Its view of workers as being disposable and the carte blanche it seeks
for further privatization of services poses a serious problem for
the people of the province.
It is the workers who are defending the well-being and rights of all. They deserve everyone's full support.
This article was published in
September 27, 2021 - No. 88
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/WF2021/Articles/WO08882.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
