Fredericton: The union representing school bus drivers, CUPE Local 1253, is concerned about another incident that happened during the transport of students for an extra-curricular activity.

“One of our professional bus drivers, who is also a driver-trainer, was asked to take the Aux Quatre Vents school hockey team to Miramichi. On his way back, he noticed the multi-function activity bus was not handling right. He decided to pull over to the side of the road and discovered that the nuts on the back wheels were loose”, explained the president of the New Brunswick Council of School District Unions (CUPE 1253), Delalene Harris Foran.

“The driver decided to have the bus towed back to Bathurst and parents had to come and pick up their kids.”

“Apparently, the bus had been inspected in November and all new tires were put on, but nobody took the bus back to have the wheel nuts torqued”, explained Harris Foran.

“We can’t ask volunteer drivers to be responsible for the maintenance of the vehicle. This time, we were fortunate that the driver was a professional school bus driver and decided to stop to inspect the wheels.”

“This is the second time in less than a month that a bus transporting students to extra-curricular activities had to be pulled off the road for safety reasons.”

“Once again, we call upon the minister of Education to implement the Coroner’s Inquest recommendation that only Class 2-B professional school bus drivers using school buses be used to transport children at extra-curricular activities at all times”, concluded Harris Foran.

FREDERICTON – Legislation has been passed that will extend collective bargaining rights to casual government employees, Human Resources Minister Rick Brewer announced today.

Amendments to the Public Service Labour Relations Act repealed a section that had excluded casual employees from collective bargaining until they had worked for at least six months. Employees will now be part of a union from the first day of employment.

“These amendments will allow casual workers in all parts of the public service to have employee status on the first day of employment,” said Brewer. “This will allow them to join a union immediately and have their terms of employment covered and negotiated under a collective agreement.”

Basic entitlements for casual employees, such as 80 per cent of the applicable job rate, seniority, the right to file a grievance and to be recalled seasonally if work performance is satisfactory, will come into effect June 17 when the legislation is proclaimed. The province will negotiate other
terms and conditions of employment for casual employees with each union.

“For over 25 years, public sector unions have been seeking collective bargaining rights for casual employees,” said Danny Légère, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees – NB. “We are looking forward to representing casual employees at the bargaining table to improve on their working conditions, wages and quality of life.”

“The number of casual employees varies by season and fluctuates between 7,000 and 9,000 people throughout all government operations. We are pleased with Premier Graham following through with his commitment that he gave prior to being elected premier to amend legislation so that casual employees would have the right to the collective bargaining process,” Légère added.

In June 2009, Justice Paulette Garnett ruled that the definition of employee in the Public Service Labour Relations Actviolated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms by excluding casual workers from collective bargaining. The province chose not to appeal the decision and was given 12 months to amend the legislation.

“Over the past 12 months, our government has been working diligently with union leaders to address the concerns of casual employees,” said Brewer. “These amendments have been developed after extensive consultation with our union partners and will improve working conditions for casual employees across our province.”

Fredericton: The Union representing highway workers is asking the government to reconsider the use of a public private partnership for the twinning of the entire length of Route 1 from the United States border at St. Stephen.

“Studies have proven over and over again that the use of P3’s to build and maintain highways is not cheaper as politicians would lead us to believe, said Andrew Hardy, President of CUPE 1190.

The highway between Moncton and Fredericton – a P3 – is a good example of this. Each year, the province is paying MRDC, a private company, $10 million just to maintain the highway.

“The Minister of Finance stated that the private sector could do it quicker than the government can. We would like to know if the Minister asked his colleague, the Minister of Transportation, for input on how to build the new highway? We recently met with the Minister of Transportation, Denis Landry, who told us that they would not use the P3 model to build that road,” said Hardy.

The President of CUPE New Brunswick, Daniel Léger, believes the government is losing an opportunity to come out of the economic crisis well positioned by letting multinational corporations own and operate our transportation routes while the tax payer foots the bill.

Saint John: The Union representing the employees of New Direction in Saint John is calling upon the government to save their community residences from closure.

“Last week, the Board of Directors of New Direction informed CUPE Local 4569, which represents Residential Care Workers working in its three group homes, that they are shutting down all of its facilities by the end of December”, said CUPE Representative Vallie Stearns.

“The Board of Directors told us they can’t afford to operate the group homes any longer due to ‘projected financials and inadequate funding’. Apparently, they lost approximately $100,000 in funding revenues in the last fiscal year, and $70,000 to date in this fiscal year”, explained Stearns.

The Union will be presenting a letter to Social Development Minister Sue Stultz asking for the immediate reinstatement of funding.

“For years now, we have been on a roller coaster,” said Cheryl Nice, President of CUPE Local 4569. “Too many beds have been empty for too long, even though there are plenty of people who need our services. The Department of Social Development has forced New Direction to close homes and re-open them in the past by withdrawing placements. Who will take care of the mentally ill? Non-profit agencies cannot provide reliable care unless the Department of Social Development increases per diem rates and provides stable placements,” explained CUPE Local 4569 President, Cheryl Nice.

The closure of New Direction will result in the loss of 13 full-time and 13 part-time jobs, and the loss of three houses providing 18 beds for adults struggling with mental illness and other disabilities. New Direction Inc., a non-profit agency, has been providing community residential services since the late 1970s in the Saint John area and at one point operated five houses with a total of 30 beds.

According to Cheryl Nice, the impact of this closure will be even greater on the residents. “This agency provides homes for adults in our community that struggle with mental illness and other disabilities. For those people, the community residences operated by New Direction are their home. If suitable placements cannot be found for our clients, they will end up in below-standard homes, leading some of them to live on the streets.”

According to the President of the New Brunswick Council of Group Home Unions, Romana Sehic, “The Government is turning its back on the most vulnerable in our society. What will happen to our clients if agencies such as New Direction are forced to close? Are we going back to institutionalization? Group home services are vital to those suffering from mental illness; vital to them and vital to society as a whole,” concluded Sehic.