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Labour Day is a time to reflect on the many contributions of working people. It’s a time to celebrate the struggles of the past and prepare for those ahead.  

We wish to give thanks and recognize the exceptional work done by front-line workers. In the last 12 months, you, CUPE members, stood on the picket lines across the province to protect the public services New Brunswickers need and rely on.

On this Labour Day, we celebrate and embrace your solidarity which is the backbone of working-class action. It is with this spirit of unity among all workers that we must keep on fighting for good jobs, strengthen the worker’s movement and workers’ power.

This year, we have heard so many heartbreaking and concerning examples of staff shortages. The root cause of this – the shortage of good jobs in both the private and the public sector – is what we must tackle. It is our systems that are failing us, not the frontline workers: we are committed to protecting our public services for all New Brunswickers.

Workers can no longer settle for the ongoing exploitation and poor working conditions that they were dealing with before the COVID-19 pandemic.

That is why CUPE is pushing to expand union rights to all workers in our province. Organizing, joining a union and fighting for better jobs, better protections and benefits, is the best way to guarantee workers have to make real change happen. 

This Labour Day, we recommit to building worker-to-worker solidarity. Let’s celebrate the extraordinary things that everyday people can accomplish when we combine our efforts and work together toward common goals. Collective action works.

On behalf of the 28 000 members of CUPE NB, we wish you and your family a safe and happy Labour Day.

In solidarity,

The CUPE NB Executive

Link to Labour Day events in your region: https://nb.cupe.ca/event/nb-labour-day-events/?instance_id=139

Download the flyer here: 2022_CUPE_Atlantic_Political_Summit_

Are you interested in fostering bargaining and political power within your local? Do you want to learn what is at stake and what it takes to develop policies and legislation which strengthen the labour movement? Would you consider helping in campaigns or running for a provincial or federal seat? Do you want to develop an NDP that works better for workers? Then please join MP Leah Gazan (MB), former MP Peggy Nash (ON), former MLA Howard Epstein (NS), NDP MLA Suzy Hansen (NS) and others to learn how to do just that.

We will look at the problem of decades of neo-liberal governance; how to fight back; develop an intersectional analysis; and develop a deeper understanding of climate justice from experts across the Atlantic.

• WHEN: Sunday, September 25th [evening] to Thursday, September 29th [half day]
• WHERE: Four Points Sheraton Halifax, 1496 Hollis Street, Halifax, NS B3J 3Z1
• COST: $1,200.00 – includes hotel and all meals [except dinner on Monday], $ 400.00 – includes lunches and dinners [except dinner on Monday]

REGISTER: https://cupe.ca/mrm-union-education/event/5504

This Saturday, August 27, join us for the pride parade in Moncton!

Greetings Sisters, Brothers, and Friends,

On behalf of CUPE NB, I wish you and your family a Happy New Brunswick Day. This year’s celebration is particularly important as we are now over two years into the COVID 19 pandemic. Many of our public services have been stretched to the maximum and yet you still show up and do your best to provide quality public services to the people of New Brunswick. We thank you on New Brunswick Day, and we value you and your work every day.

In Solidarity,

Stephen Drost
CUPE NB President.

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Salutations, consœurs, confrères et amis,

Au nom du SCFP NB, je vous souhaite, à vous et à votre famille, une bonne fête du Nouveau-Brunswick. La célébration de cette année est particulièrement importante puisque la pandémie de COVID 19 dure maintenant depuis plus de deux ans. Bon nombre de nos services publics ont été poussés au maximum et pourtant, vous êtes toujours prêts à faire de votre mieux pour offrir des services publics de qualité au pour tous les citoyens. En cette fête du Nouveau-Brunswick, le SCFP NB tient à vous remercier et vous dire que nous apprécions le travail que vous faites à tous les jours.

En toute solidarité,

Stephen Drost
Président du SCFP NB.

Your union wants to hear from you. We are collecting frontline stories, and we want your testimonial to expose the shocking conditions in which our members work and New Brunswickers receive services.

Fill out the short survey here.

Alarming stories from members across the province, across all sectors, are coming in. We have stories of members working short-staffed, not taking their breaks, being denied vacation, or experiencing violence. With your story, we will have a more complete picture of the situation, in all regions, and in multiple classifications. This will be crucial to help us educate and compel the public, government, and our employers to act on the urgent need to improve our working conditions.

As Canada’s largest union, we acknowledge that because of these ongoing events, it is more important than ever to respect the rights of Indigenous peoples to their unceded territories, as well as to preserve and protect their cultures and languages. CUPE stands in solidarity with Indigenous nations, communities, and organizations and is committed to continuing to work towards reconciliation and respect our ongoing treaty relationships.

Our union is striving to educate CUPE members on the legacy of the residential school system and the ongoing harm Canada’s assimilationist policies and laws have on Indigenous peoples.

CUPE’s new guide, Truth and reconciliation: CUPE taking action through collective bargaining, is a resource that supports locals in working towards reconciliation by bargaining language supporting Indigenous workers into collective agreements.

In 2019, CUPE released Walking the talk: A practical guide to reconciliation for CUPE locals. This guide provides CUPE members with key resources to better acknowledge and include Indigenous members in our union, and to help locals take concrete action towards reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.

As part of our ongoing efforts to foster reconciliation in our workplaces and communities, we encourage all members to participate in National Indigenous Peoples Day by sharing in the events of the day. But we can do more. CUPE encourages members to take some time to learn and reflect on the ongoing harm caused by colonialism and Canada’s treatment of Indigenous peoples.

Today, we are launching the first phase of our Water is life campaign, starting with educational materials to raise awareness of the impacts of not having access to safe drinking water for Indigenous peoples in Canada. Check out our brand-new fact sheet and resource list.

We know that the COVID-19 pandemic has drastically altered the ways people interact, but it is now even easier to attend events related to National Indigenous Peoples Day through virtual platforms, while some in-person events are returning this year as well.

What CUPE locals and members can do:

Educate:

• Read the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Final Report and consider how you can support the calls to action.
• Invite a speaker to your next virtual or in-person meeting to talk about truth and reconciliation.
• Ask for CUPE’s Indigenous Awareness workshop and our human rights course. Find out more at cupe.ca/union-education.
• Read CUPE’s response to the Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

Bargain:

• Make employment equity a bargaining priority.
• Bargain Indigenous-inclusive language into your local’s collective agreement, using CUPE’s Truth and Reconciliation bargaining guide as a resource to help you get started.

Act:

• Acknowledge Indigenous territory at all of your meetings and reach out and forge partnerships with local Indigenous communities and organizations.
• Keep pressure on the federal government to implement their action plan to address the findings of the Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
• Take the steps outlined in Walking the talk: A practical guide to reconciliation for CUPE local

June 2, 2022 – The NB Council of Nursing Home Unions (NBCNHU), representing more than 4,600 nursing home workers, held a press conference today. The Council announced it has initiated legal proceedings to enforce pension law and protect nursing home workers’ pensions.

“As of this morning, CUPE filed a formal complaint to Angela Mazerolle, the NB Superintendent of Pensions, asking her to intervene as the province is deliberately underfunding nursing home workers’ Defined Benefit Pension plan,” said Sharon Teare, president of the NBCNHU.

“By refusing to allow adjustments in contribution levels from both our employers and plan members, the province is breaking its legal obligations to ensure a viable pension plan for over 4,500 workers and thousands of retirees,” said Jason St-Onge, NBCNHU’s 1^st vice president.

In the 25-page legal complaint, the Council notes that the government has not done its basic due diligence over the years. The government ignored multiple calls by workers to adjust contribution levels, and now, the plan deficit has reached $112 million.

The Pension Benefit Act and the Nursing Home Pension Plans Act are clear: the pension plan must be fully funded or on the path to being fully funded so that promised benefits can be kept. “They can’t contribute less than the cost of what is being promised to nursing home workers, and they can’t ignore deficits and allow them to grow larger,” said Emily Niles, CUPE’s pension researcher. “The Superintendent must intervene” added Niles.

The NBCNHU pension plan pays out on average $7,300 per year to each retiree.  “It is a very modest pension, and it should be improved, not attacked and undermined by this government who claims it “cares” for its front-line workers,” said St-Onge.

“The Higgs government is manufacturing a pension crisis in nursing homes to justify benefit cuts, so we are taking legal action to defend our members. Workers will not stand idly by while their pension plan deteriorates,” concluded Teare.

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