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Moncton Airport Screening, 2021. CUPE Local 1251 are deployed to do COVID-19 screening at the airports and borders of NB.

April 27, 2021 – CUPE Local 1251 held a press conference to announce it had filed a notice of deadlock in negotiations with the NB Labour and Employment Board.  Local 1251 represents approximately 800 front line professional Correctional Officers, Human Service Councillors, Laundry Service and custodial workers working for the province.

“Our members have been without a contract for almost 4 years and government still refuses to bring any fairness to the bargaining talks. Higgs is forcing a strike on essential workers. It’s unbelievable and unethical,” said Chris Curran, President of CUPE Local 1251.

“Even if they protect our borders, clean our hospital’s laundry, sanitize government workplaces and keep our communities safe, this government does not really care if they put their lives on the line every day,” said CUPE National Servicing Representative Mike Davidson.

Over the last several years the Union has been lobbying the Government to fix the retention and recruitment issues in correctional facilities. Many jails are understaffed and under resourced.  The union also demands proper job-posting contract terms. “We have seen regular positions vacant being filled by casual workers in excess of 5 years and longer,” said Chris Curran. “It should not be like this,” he added.

“The root causes of recruitment and retention problems are more than obvious. NB Correctional officers remain among the lowest paid in Canada. Add lack of posting requirements with the exploitation of casuals, and you compound an already dangerous work environment with the revolving door syndrome,” said Davidson.

CUPE 1251 workers have continued to provide critical services to protect New Brunswickers and their families during the pandemic. They have gone over and above working outside their scope of work ensuring our borders and airports are protected with COVID-19 screening. Our work is much more dangerous fighting this pandemic in our workplaces than from behind a podium.

“Meanwhile Higgs had no qualms in putting ministerial ethics aside to push the NB Energy Commission in raising heating oil and gas price on ordinary people to help the Irvings’ profit margins,” said Davidson. “He bends over backwards for the Irvings and does not care about the rising cost of living to the rest of New Brunswickers, including the increased housing, construction costs, food, heating, etc. Yet, most workers are seeing their buying power diminish year after year.,” he added.

“Our members have never stopped working, protecting New Brunswickers through this pandemic and deserve a fair wage to at least keep up with the rising costs. The reality is a large portion of our membership with full time hours, take home less than the $2,000 monthly CERB payment- Higgs wants to continue paying substandard wages to our members!” noted Curran.

“When will this Premier see that fair wages and working conditions are what keeps our communities prosperous?” said Curran. “By neglecting to invest in struggling public services and our member’s who strengthen our local economies, it would definitely help our struggling small businesses in our communities. Higgs is forcing a strike on our members and your services. Heroes don’t deserve zeroes!” he concluded.

This Saturday April 24 2021, Steve Drost has been elected for a 2-year term as provincial president of the New Brunswick Division of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE NB). More than 200 delegates, representing CUPE locals from across the province, elected Drost to lead New Brunswick’s largest union. The vote was conducted Saturday afternoon at CUPE NB’s 58^th annual convention, which took place virtually, Friday and Saturday.

“I will do my best each and every day for all our members, to make sure we are truly listening and making CUPE NB a grassroots, member driven Division. I am honoured to be your president,” said Drost to delegates. Drost, who has been vice-president of CUPE NB for the last two years, takes the place of President Brien Watson.

“I have been working for over 44 years in the education sector, so I am looking forward for retirement,” said Brien Watson.  “I wish Steve all the best in his new role,” said Watson.

“It’s an honour to follow in the foots steps of Brother Watson, who diligently served his 2-year term as Division President. He picked up the “Bargaining Forward” campaign, and took head-on the enormous curveball that is COVID-19,” said Drost.

Sharon Teare, herself a Personal Care worker at St John & St Stephen Home in Saint John and President of the NB Council of Nursing Home Unions, has been elected for a one-year term as  CUPE NB’s First Vice-President. Drost and Teare will join Kim Copp on the CUPE NB inner executive. Copp is currently the CUPE NB Secretary Treasurer and works as an LPN at the Forestdale Home in Riverside Albert.

“With those two great leaders by my side, we have what it takes to mount the challenge against Blaine Higgs’s “Zeros for our Heroes” wage freeze plans and his anti-worker politics,” said Drost.

Drost has been president of CUPE Local 1418, Rehabilitation and Therapy since 2013. He began his career as a practising social worker in 1988. At present he is a Clinical 3 Social Worker and has been practising front line Social Work in Child Welfare his entire career.

“Brother Drost is a dedicated activist. I’m confident our Division and the labour movement will grow even stronger under his leadership,” said Brien Watson.

Your local needs to hear from you on your strike readiness. Please fill out the
3^rd CUPE NB SURVEY

Steve Drost, Child protection worker and President of CUPE Local 1418

Fredericton – Today, CUPE Local 1418 held a press conference to inform the public that contract talks with the NB government have reached an impasse.

The local represents over 1100 front-line professionals who work with the most vulnerable members of our society. The union local represents Human Resource Development Officers, Social Workers, Housing Program Officers, Probation Officers, Correctional Program Officers, Human Rights Officers and more.

“There has been too little progress in bargaining talks since the collective agreement expired in August 2017. Despite the added COVID-19 related workload burdens, the government still refuses to negotiate a timely and fair deal,” said Steve Drost, president of CUPE Local 1418. “They left workers with no choice, a deadlock declaration had to be filed,” he added.

With the pandemic, CUPE 1418’s members who work daily with children, families and seniors saw their workload increase dramatically. Many workers were themselves redeployed in private long-term care facilities where the virus was present.

During the conference, Steve Drost raised the alarm on the recruitment and retention crisis in the public sector. “We are critically understaffed. Our members are under resourced and have not had a fair wage increase in over 12 years,” said Drost. “Like too many other New Brunswickers, we have fallen way behind the cost of living and this has to stop,” he added.

CUPE Local 1418 notes that its members are exhausted emotionally and physically, burning out and too many are leaving the public sector.  “Blaine Higgs’s public sector wage freeze will aggravate the crisis. We are still in disbelief, to see that other PC MLAs have not pushed back against this insulting “thank you” to those who put their lives on the line for our communities,” he added.

“Higgs has a responsibility to fix this and back down from his austerity plan. Our provincial social safety net is already in tatters; it’s time to mend it,” said Drost.

The union hopes government will agree to settle the dispute through binding arbitration a third-party resolution mechanism inscribed in section 72 of the Public Service Labour Relations Act. After a deadlock has been declared, the Government can still do the following:

1. a) Abandon the wage freeze mandate and return to the bargaining table with a fair deal for workers;
2. b) Settle the dispute through binding arbitration; or
3. c) Refuse option a) and b) to force the workers in an unnecessary lockout/strike scenario.

Negotiations between the New Brunswick Community College management and the CUPE Local 5017, representing tradespeople, custodial and maintenance staff are at an impasse.

On April 12, the New Brunswick Labour Board formally acknowledged this through a letter to both parties.

CUPE National Representative Kim McCaffrey says, “We have been trying to bargain a fair collective agreement with the employer since October 2019. The local had been attempting to reach a negotiated settlement with the help of a conciliator from the Labour and Employment Board. But as the employer refused to propose any equitable monetary items, a deadlock declaration became inevitable.

“Historically, the folks on the other side of the bargaining table had the capacity and power to bargain. Now, the NBCC officials bring no flexibility, simply repeating the wage freeze and wage restraint mandate ordered by Blaine Higgs,” said Bill Murray, President of Local 5017.

Local 5017’s bargaining team was frustrated with the employer’s stalling and delay tactics. “The employer’s negotiating team wouldn’t even consider talking seriously about monetary items. They want us bargain backwards, bargain against ourselves,” said Murray.

Management refused to talk adjustment for recruitment and retention. “Why is it that NBCC tradespeople earn 2 to 3 dollars an hour less than their colleagues in the healthcare system?” said McCaffrey. “For an institution which teaches futures trades people, it’s appalling to see they refuse to fairly compensate their own trades workers such as carpenters, power engineers and food service workers,” she added.

The union hopes government will agree to settle the dispute through binding arbitration a third-party resolution mechanism inscribed in section 72 of the Public Service Labour Relations Act.

After a deadlock has been declared, the Government can do the following:

1. Send a bargaining team who has an actual ability to settle a fair deal with workers;
2. Settle the dispute through binding arbitration; or
3. Refuse option a) and b) to force the workers in an unnecessary lockout/strike scenario.

CUPE local 5017 represents over 102 workers employed throughout the six anglophone NB Community Colleges (Woodstock, Saint Andrews, Fredericton, Saint John, Moncton, Miramichi).

What is happening to the Saint John laundry workers in unacceptable.  Copy and paste this text in an email to the Minister responsible for Service New Brunswick (Mary Wilson) to show you stand with the laundry workers.

Send to : Mary.Wilson@gnb.ca
CC: Roger.L.Melanson@gnb.ca; David.Coon@gnb.ca; Kris.Austin@gnb.ca

Dear Honourable Minister Mary Wilson, dear Leaders of the Opposition

I am writing to you today to intervene in the unsafe and toxic workplace at the Saint John Laundry Plant, operated and managed by Service New Brunswick (SNB).

Over the previous years, CUPE Locals 1251 and 1190 denounced how little to no attention was given by SNB to deal with the Plant manager’s unsafe work practices and the culture of fear and intimidation he maintains.

Then, there was an incident on March 3^,  2021, where the plant manager completely disregarded basic health and safety of the whole staff, just to maintain productivity above all else. Workers and their unions are saying “Enough is enough,” SNB needs to step in and fix this situation.

I wholly support the worker’s demands, which go as follows:

1. Management must be held accountable for the March 3rd incident, up to and including immediate termination of the plant manager;
2. There must be an independent third-party investigation done on the incident; and
3. There must be an independent third-party investigation into the toxic workplace, covering the ongoing issues, with a complete and transparent report provided to the workers’ union locals.

Reliable laundry service is essential to the operation and delivery of health care. This is even truer in times of a pandemic, because it is a vital part in infection control and patient care. The 120 workers of the Saint John Laundry are providing clean isolation gowns, surgical linen, patient gowns, bed sheets, towels and environmental products for our healthcare system. Like any workers, they also deserve respect, dignity and a safe working environment.

Thank you,

Fredericton – On March 19, 2021, the Government of New Brunswick announced it would stop pursuing its plan to privatize Cannabis NB.

“Selling off our public assets, may it be in retail,  healthcare, transport, utilities always ends up costing residents more in the long run,” said Brien Watson, President of CUPE NB. “I am relieved to see they listened to the calls of workers, communities, businesses and residents who called to keep the Crown Corporation as a public entity,” he added.

“I wish Higgs had renounced earlier, because his privatization threat unjustly created a lot of anguish for those retail workers. For more than a year, workers had to live in uncertainty, fearing job losses despite doing the best they could and bringing back money for provincial coffers.”

Cannabis NB generated four consecutive profitable quarters and expects to exceed $10 million in profit for the year. “Like many Crown Corporation, they needed some adjustment time to fine-tune their operation to be really viable.

CUPE NB believes public retail and production – full public ownership of the complete production and distribution chain – would be the best way to generate funds and recirculate profits in our services, in our economy, for the benefit of our communities.

“Now, at least, we keep a part of the profit chain – the retail element – for the benefit of New Brunswickers. It would have been foolish to let corporate giants like Loblaws or Canopy Growth make money off the back of residents, instead of returning the profits to the public in programs and services for all,” said Watson.

“When it’s publicly run, there is safety, transparency, accountability and we know we are no giving away money to tax-avoiding offshore corporations,” concluded Watson.

Fredericton – Today, New Brunswick’s Finance Minister Ernie Steeves presented the provincial budget, which fails to rise up to the challenges posed by the Pandemic.

“Even in ordinary times, this would be qualified as a “No News Budget.” But as we are going through the challenge of our generation, their inaction is inexcusable,” said Brien Watson, President of CUPE NB. 

“They needed to show ambition and vision so New Brunswick could both leverage historically low borrowing costs and our enviable situation in the Pandemic. Sadly, the measures miss the target and fail to invest in people first,  where we get the “biggest bang for our bucks,” said Watson.

CUPE NB notes one bright spot, where $12.4 million is allocated to finally tackle the poverty wages of home support workers, community residence workers, special care home workers, and family support workers. CUPE NB, along with the NB Community Service Unions, has lobbied many governments over the last decade so they would act on this file.

Beyond this, there is next to nothing to improve public services and help those who deliver those services. No actions have been planned to deal with the magnitude of the recruitment and retention crisis in the public sector.

“This Budget contains no measures to deal with the fact our province has the weakest family incomes in Canada. It contains no measures to seriously help municipalities, small businesses and to give a boost to our rural communities, ” said Watson. “Even without the Pandemic, the government should have had a more ambitious plan to reverse the effect of more than a decade of stagnant economic growth,” he added.

“To put it flatly, this budget is botching our best chance to make New Brunswick a better place for all. His tunnel vision makes him repeat past mistakes and missed opportunities that put us in our current economic position. It’s jeopardizing future growth,” concluded Brien Watson.

Brothers, Sisters, Friends,

You have all heard the news; Irving Oil has withdrawn its application to the Energy and Utilities Board to get an increase in gas and heating oil wholesale profits margins. This is a victory for all ordinary New Brunswickers, it’s a victory for those who struggle to heat their homes or fill up their tanks.

Irving Oil wanted to use the pandemic as an excuse to increase their profit margins by over 50% on heating fuel and gasoline prices. If approved by the Board, CBC calculated that they would have gained up to $60 million dollars on the backs of ordinary residents.

These billionaires thought they could threaten shortages as a club to bully the Board into getting what they wanted. They were bold enough to do this without even providing basic, open and transparent evidence to support their claims on why they needed this extra 60 million dollars in these times.

Siding with the intimidator was NB Energy Minister Mike Holland, who had sent a letter to the Energy and Utilities Board in support of the Irving application. He had Higgs’ approval to influence the independent tribunal’s decision, even if it violated ministerial norms. With this kind of support, it’s clear the Irvings were hoping to get a “quick and dirty” pass from the Board.

Thankfully, citizen groups along the Common Front for Social justice and CUPE NB, got involved in the public hearing process. They did this to voice the concerns of workers and vulnerable residents. This brought much needed scrutiny and attention from the public and media on this blatant pandemic profiteering attempt. A little bit of prodding and questioning was all it took to get this Goliath to back down.

This victory reminds us of the importance of what follows:

• We cannot stand idly by when we have a government who tells front line workers to take zeros at bargaining tables even though they put their lives on the line to keep the people of our province safe.
• We cannot stand idly by when Higgs does all he can to support price gouging for his billionaire and corporate friends, may it be in keeping rents uncontrolled or pushing for increases in gasoline and heating costs.
• We cannot stand idly by when politicians believe a 5-cent increase to the minimum wage (11.75) is “good enough” when we have the lowest median wages in Canada, and when poverty experts say a living wage in NB really starts at $19.55 an hour.

For us, the fight for affordability goes hand in hand with the struggle to improve working conditions and wages.

Saint John – Today, CUPE Local 1190 and CUPE Local 1251 held a press conference to expose blatant mismanagement of a health and safety incident which happened at the Saint John Laundry facility earlier this week. The Saint John Laundry processes linens for nearly half of the province’s nursing homes and hospitals.

On March 3^rd, the Saint John Laundry plant management acted in an unsafe manner towards the staff, the members of CUPE Locals 1251 and 1190. “They mismanaged an emergency which could have resulted in serious injury and even the death of employees,” said Chris Curran, President of Local 1251.

Chronology of events according to Locals 1251 and 1190:

• On Wednesday, March 3, 2021, a fire alarm at Saint John Laundry went off at 1:05 pm. The employees left their workstation and went outside to be roll-called to make sure everyone was out.
• After being outside for only a short moment, management ordered the staff to re-enter the building, return to their positions and recommence work. This decision was made while the fire alarm was still ringing, and the fire department was not yet on site.
• A few minutes after the employees were back inside, a decision was then made by management to urge everyone to exit the building after people smelled something burning. As the alarm was still ringing, pulling the fire alarm at that point was fruitless. At that point, supervisors were running around in panic, screaming above the noise of the alarm and the machines to try to get all workers to go back outside immediately.
• Once outside, no roll call was made. Workers and management had no idea if everyone had gotten out while the firefighters were entering the building.

“That is an industrial facility, processing on average 25 tons of linens per day.  There is major amperage running for the machines in there, all kinds of strong chemicals, solvents, massive propane-run dryers,” said Brent Wiggins, President of CUPE 1190. “It’s extremely negligent for management to have demanded all workers go back in, minutes only after they were out, instead of waiting for firefighters. That is truly incompetent,” he added.

“It’s not the first time that management has shown ineptitude, disrespect and disregard for his employees,” said Chris Curran. “This month’s case is frightening. They completely disregarded the health and safety of their whole staff just to maintain productivity above all else.”

Following the incident, both CUPE locals sent letters to the Service New Brunswick Minister Mary Wilson demanding the following:

1. The immediate termination of the management for the March 3^rd incident;
2. An investigation of the incident; and
3. An entire investigation into this toxic workplace, covering the ongoing issues, with a complete report provided to the CUPE locals.

More than 120 CUPE members currently work at the facility.