New Brunswick Public Sector Workers Have Solutions to
Problem of Retention and Recruitment
Workers Step Up Their Fight Under Conditions of Renewed COVID-19 Crisis
St. John meeting during strike votes, September 22, 2021
The approximately 22,000 workers of the Canadian Union of Public
Employees -- New Brunswick (CUPE NB) have now completed their strike
vote which ended with overwhelming support for strike action if their
demands are not met. Members of the New Brunswick Nurses Union are also
stepping up their fight for their rights and for
services. One of the key demands is for wages that are acceptable to
workers and that will help solve the huge retention and recruitment
crisis that threatens the very existence of services. Workers are now
discussing how to move forward with this important struggle at a time
when the province has declared a health emergency following the
rapid increase in hospitalizations due to COVID-19, including intensive
care hospitalizations, and the increase in deaths due to the pandemic.
Public sector workers are the public's first line of defence, but their
conditions and the government's dictate mean that they are in an
increasingly untenable position to provide services. Despite the
renewed crisis of the pandemic, the provincial government persists in
rejecting the demands of workers and refusing to acknowledge the
problem of the
crisis in services. It continues to claim that meeting the demands of
public service workers will put undue pressure on the province's
finances because, according to this government, serving the province
means paying the rich, including through the privatization of public
services. The Premier said he was prepared to push things to the
brink,
stating that he has already planned contingency measures if workers
decide they have no choice but to take strike action.
Workers' Forum firmly supports the difficult and courageous
struggle of New Brunswick public sector workers for their rights and
for a pro-worker and pro-social solution to the problems facing public
services. We call on all workers in Canada to support them.
This article was published in
October 15, 2021 - No. 95
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/WF2021/Articles/WO08951.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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