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FREDERICTON – Blaine Higgs called a snap election without having provided Elections New Brunswick with enough legal flexibility to ensure seniors’ right to vote in the current context. CUPE NB denounces this situation and demands the Premier intervene to ensure seniors’ Charter right to vote are guaranteed.

Highlights:

• Before calling the election, Premier Higgs could have convened the Legislature to ensure the NB Elections Act would have sufficient provisions and flexibility to deal with the realities of COVID-19.
• On August 25, Chief Electoral Officer Kim Poffenroth revealed to Brunswick News how the NB Elections Act did not give her the authority to create a special voting process, special hours, methods or any tailored voting process to help immunocompromised seniors. Voting by phone would have been possible in October if Election NB had received the go ahead before the election was called.
• The NB Council of Nursing-Home Unions has made it clear that there are insufficient staffing levels in nursing homes to assist Elections NB personnel to help seniors vote.

Quotes:

• “The Premier has knowingly planned an election without serious considerations for seniors’ right to vote. This is either crass negligence or an electoral move to raise barriers against the very people who would want to vote against his attempt at a power grab.” – Brien Watson, President of CUPE NB.

• “CUPE NB believes that seniors, just like any other group of citizens, deserve fairness and equity. Despite what Higgs might wish for, seniors’ right to vote is guaranteed under article 3 of the Charter. They should not face any barriers to exercise their constitutional right to vote.” – Brien Watson

Quick facts:

• If citizens are unable to exercise their right to vote because of obstacles inherent in the electoral rules or the way they are implemented, these barriers constitute a restriction which is not allowed under Article 3 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.[1]
• In 2017, GNB’ Aging Strategy showed there were 147,929 seniors in NB, which is equal to 19.5% of our total population.[2]

[1] Bringing the Ballot Box to Voters: In 1992, Federal Bill C-78 was passed to make access to the vote easier in a number of ways. Among the improvements were mobile polling stations that serve many seniors and persons with disabilities in the institutions where they live. https://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=res&dir=his&document=chap4&lang=e

[2] https://www2.gnb.ca/content/dam/gnb/Departments/sd-ds/pdf/Seniors/AnAgingStrategyForNB.pdf

Moncton, NB – CUPE Local 1252, the union representing 10 000 healthcare workers in New Brunswick, denounces Regional Health Authorities’ inaction on a series of death threats made to a hospital worker in Moncton.

Over the course of 8 months, a CUPE member working in a Moncton area hospital received 3 death threats. The first two were put on the employee’s locker as notes, and the most recent note was left in early August 2020, inside the locker. The notes contained discriminatory language that was an attack on the LGBTQ community and the victim’s sexual orientation.

“The Employer did not treat the issue seriously until the Union pushed them to have a formal investigation,” said Denis Brun, CUPE National Representative, for the Moncton Hospital and the George L. Dumont Hospital.

“Management did nothing until the third note. At first, they treated this like a joke. They even told the victim to take a 5-minute break, shrug it off and get back to work. This is unacceptable,” said Brun.

To this day, the Employer has not yet discovered the identity of the perpetrator.

The presidents of each local in the NB Council of Hospital Unions are asking politicians to improve the Occupational Health and Safety Act.  “Workplace violence and harassment is mentioned in the law, but the Act needs real teeth to compel employers to investigate such acts seriously,” say Tiffenny Lloyd and Susan Touchie, presidents of CUPE Locals 821 and 720.

 Up until April 1, 2019, New Brunswick was the only Canadian province or territory with no Occupational Health and Safety regulatory scheme dealing specifically with workplace violence and harassment.

In the Spring of 2018, CUPE surveyed its healthcare members. Over 56% of the respondents claimed to have filed a violent incident report and were not satisfied by their Employer’s response. Up to 25% of respondents say no actions were ever taken by their Employer after filing an incident report.  

August 14, 2020 – CUPE Local 1783, representing municipal transit workers in Fredericton, is adding its voice to other unions, associations and municipalities pushing Higgs to opt in on federal transit funds.

“Premier Higgs said he had opted out of the transit portion of the Safe Restart Agreement apparently because there was only capital funding for infrastructure. That’s not correct. There are also operating funds available to address municipal transit shortcomings related to COVID-19,” said Lori Forget, President of CUPE Local 1783.

In Ontario, the provincial government opted in the transit portion of the Safe Restart Agreement. Guelph, which is comparable in size to Greater Moncton, is receiving $5,096,534 for its transit system.

“The province has nothing to lose in compensating municipalities for lost fare revenue and maintain transit service levels for both public health and economic reasons,” added Forget.

“The government should take advantage of the operating fund and also look at infrastructure cost shares,” said CUPE NB President Brien Watson. “NB has one of the oldest municipal bus fleets in the country. If we want to make a just transition to a clean, green economy and society, that requires an expanded and more accessible public transit system,” he added.

“We are proud to stand together on this issue with our union brothers and sisters of the Amalgamated Transit Union locals in Moncton and Saint John,” concluded Watson.

CUPE Local 1783 represents 45 municipal transit workers in Fredericton. 

Fredericton, July 6 2020 – Today the majority of the NB Council of Nursing Home Union (NBCNHU) members approved the tentative agreement reached between their bargaining team and the provincial government.

Over the last two weeks, the 51 nursing homes represented by the NBCNHU participated in the ratification process of the tentative agreement that was reached on May 26, 2020. The 6-year deal covers the period between October 2016 to October 2022.

Each of the 51 nursing home union locals’ members had the right to accept or refuse the deal through secret ballot. Forty-five locals voted in favour to accept and 6 locals voted to reject.

“Although the NBCNHU supported bringing the tentative agreement back for over 4400 members to decide, we all agree, this deal does not fix all the working conditions issues in our field,” said Sharon Teare, President of the NB Council of Nursing Homes.

“We will continue to push the Government on being accountable to the Letters of Agreement to address the increased acuity of care with every home and increase direct care hours. For those 6 homes that have rejected the deal, we will reach out to them in order to determine what our next step will be,” said Teare.

The NBCNHU recognizes how the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted and exacerbated the crisis that has been affecting long-term care for years. “Just like healthcare, long-term care should be a true, universal and accessible public service,” said Teare. “Decades of underfunding, understaffing, poor working conditions reveal how we need an overhaul that goes beyond bargaining,” she added. “This will be an election issue,” she concluded.

The NB Council of Nursing Home Unions represents 4400 workers in 51 nursing homes throughout NB.

Sackville – NB, June 26, 2020 – CUPE members at the Mount Allison University are denouncing the layoff waves initiated by the University’s Administration.

“They are making unnecessary and unfair cuts. Layoffs generate workload issues on the remaining staff and this in turn means less resources and help for students and faculty staff,” said Tasha Hawkes, president of CUPE Local 3433, which represents over 141 clerical, administrative support and technical support staff.

“Twenty-five members of our local have been laid-off,” said Hawkes. “Fourteen members have had their hours significantly reduced and over 11 employees have been put on full layoff.

This comes after 27 CUPE Local 2338 members were laid-off in April. Local 2338 represents custodial, maintenance, trades and grounds keeping staff.

“Students, other staff, including faculty and the broader community, suffer from such layoffs. Management should reverse their decision,” said Hawkes.

“Mount A’s administration has not shared with us adequate student enrolment projections for fall 2020,” said Lori MacKay, CUPE National Servicing Representative.

“We recognize the challenges of budgeting in these times. Mount A’s challenges are no different from any other universities or organizations.  Yet, as far as we know, Mount A is the only university in the province choosing to cut staff,” said Mackay.

Based on last year’s numbers, the projected savings done through these layoffs only represent 0.006% of last year’s 46 million-dollar budget.

“The added burden of implementing new policies, procedures and technical support for online learning should mean more hands on deck, not less,” added Hawkes.

“Until the University has true knowledge of actual enrolment numbers, their cuts create unnecessary and significant negative impact to the University’s workers and the community. As Mount A is Sackville’s largest employer, they should not ignore their social responsibility towards the community” concluded MacKay.

Fifty-one years ago, the Stonewall riots happened. Two racialized transwomen, Marsha Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, led the riots which energized the fight for equality.  With Pride Month, CUPE NB celebrates the resilience and activism of our LGBTQ2+ members and allies.

Today, Black, Indigenous and racialized LGBTQ2+ activists are spearheading the most radical cross-movement struggles since Stonewall, around the globe. More than ever, we need a “Frontline Pride” in our province, putting forward the fight to dismantle the homophobic, transphobic, white supremacist, colonial and ableist systems.

“Intersectionality” is a word that must resonate in our province as much as “Solidarity”. For 2020, CUPE is using the Progress Pride Flag to highlight how racism, transphobia and homophobia operate together, and how activists at those intersections have led the resistance.

CUPE NB calls on employers and the provincial government to end conversion practises, build safer spaces, and support LGBTQ2+ grassroots groups dealing with Covid-19.

We cannot forget that Pride is political. Employers and governments try to co-opt Pride, but CUPE is part of the loud chorus for Queer Liberation, Not Rainbow Capitalism – a call that is made only more urgent by COVID-19.

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June 12, 2020 – CUPE NB STATEMENT

CUPE NB stands in solidarity with Black communities and Indigenous People in Canada and around the world.

The ongoing Lockout at the Red Pine landfill in Allardville is revealing just how much worker’s rights have been eroded in New Brunswick.

NB labour laws were put in place with the promise of protecting and promoting employees’ collective voice in their workplaces. Now, after years of attacks through legislative, administrative and judicial ways, employees are left vulnerable to intense employer interference in bargaining.

In Allardville, the 23 locked-out workers have seen how their employer could drag on “bargaining” without ever intending to reach agreement with them. On top of this, workers have been subjected to a banana republic-like court injunction making the right to collective action virtually impossible. This is the same ridiculous injunction the Belledune Smelter workers got. Picketers must stay passive and let scabs – replacement workers – cross their picket lines as police give them protection. In Allardville, workers are told to stay quiet even as the employer brings in their own family members, friends and even students as scabs.

Unlike in Québec and BC, there is no law against the use of replacement workers in New Brunswick’s private sector. This means lockout can last indefinitely. When the playing field is so uneven, when employers have all the rights, this means trouble in the long run. Flawed and unjust laws only last so long until strife and social unrest boil up.

It’s time for a positive change in the labour relations in NB. It’s time we had rules that truly protected workers’ negotiating power in both public and private sectors.

Fredericton, May 28 2020 – After years of negotiations, protests and mobilization, the NB Council of Nursing Home Unions has a reached a tentative deal with provincial government.

“Of course, this deal is “tentative” because the nursing home members have the final say on it,” said Sharon Teare, President of the NBCNHU and herself a resident attendant.

Since October 2016, workers in long-term care have been without an agreement. “Bargaining was difficult long before the COVID crisis,” said Teare. “I will not forget the severe restrictions imposed by government on the nursing home bargaining process, with no real right to strike for essential workers and the impossibility to obtain unrestricted binding arbitration,” she added.

Before the start of the voting period, every union Local part of council (a total of 51 Locals) will hold membership meetings virtually or in person where feasible. Details of the tentative deal will not be released until members have had the opportunity to be presented and questions answered. “After presentation of the tentative deal, every member will be able to vote in a safe and democratic process through secret ballot,” said Teare.

Teare recognizes the deal does not solve all the issues nursing home workers currently face: “It must be either accepted or rejected by the membership. We can’t be in the mushy middle and divided during this crisis,” concluded Teare.

The NB Council of Nursing Home Unions represents 4100 workers in 51 nursing homes throughout NB.

Fredericton, May 21, 2020 – The unionized community care workers – those working in group homes, transition houses, youth homes, women’s shelters, home care, food banks – are pleased to see how provincial government has now considered them “essential” and “eligible” for the new federal wage top-up funds.

“We hope the recognition becomes permanent in our field,” said Laurie Anderson, president of the NB Community Service Unions (NBCSU) and herself a group home worker. “This federal program is a victory for us, and I hope the provincial recognition does not fade away after the crisis, so we don’t fall back down to near minimum wage levels again,” she added. 

The provincial program targets full-time workers earning less than $18 an hour more targeting essential service workers in every province. However, as the field is dominated by part-time work and atypical shifts, Anderson fears too many could be left out.

“Wages are good. But I worry about those women and men who don’t have enough hours and must hold 2 or 3 jobs. Will they be left out by the program? I wish folks in Fredericton would want to talk to us so we can make this work for all and leave no one behind,” said Anderson.

“Our sector has many challenges, which we flagged multiple times through letters to Dorothy Shephard, the Minister of Social Development. Unfortunately, she has yet to respond to our letters or invitations to meet,” added Anderson.

Among issues raised by the NBCSU to the Minister, workers raised the problematic lax application of PPE requirements in most community care establishments in NB.

“We have too many employers who are operating contrary to WorkSafeNB requirements and rules surrounding our “community setting” for primary workers,” said Anderson.  “I hope we can talk to the Minister so we can get everybody on board, employers and workers, so all are safe and adequately resourced to deliver the care our most vulnerable depend on,” she concluded.

The NBCSU represents over 500 workers in the community care sector throughout New Brunswick. This includes workers in home support, group homes, special care homes, transition houses and more.