New Brunswick
Schools close as thousands of New Brunswick public sector workers launch strike
Posted October 29, 2021
Schools closed across New Brunswick as thousands of public sector workers walked off the job early Friday morning in a bid to secure higher wages. Travis Fortnum has more.
New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs had harsh words for the province’s largest union Friday as thousands of public sector workers started a legal strike that forced the closure of all schools with little warning.
“Parents had to scramble this morning to find alternative child-care arrangements at the last minute,” Higgs told a news conference, referring to the walkout by members of the New Brunswick branch of the Canadian Union of Public Employees.
“CUPE’s actions show that their primary concern is to cause disruption. They have not shown an interest in engaging in meaningful negotiations.”
Education Minister Dominic Cardy said schools across the province will shift to online learning on Monday.
Those who went on strike Friday include school bus drivers, custodians, mechanics, some health-care workers in rehabilitation and therapy, educational support staff, and workers in transportation, corrections and the community college system. The strike is also affecting ferry services and provincial jails.
In all, 22,000 union members are in a legal strike position, with the main demand being higher wages. Union president Steve Drost said most of the union’s members haven’t had a proper raise in 15 years and remain among the lowest paid in the country.
“They’ve fallen so far behind the cost of living,” Drost said in an interview Friday. “They are prepared to do whatever is necessary to get a fair wage.”
Before contract talks broke off Tuesday night, the union was seeking a 12 per cent raise over four years, with no conditions attached. The government confirmed Thursday it was offering an 8.5 per cent wage increase over a five-year period.
Higgs said the union’s push for higher wages was unrealistic.
“Responding to these demands will put the future of all New Brunswickers at risk,” he said, adding that the province had contingency plans in place to ensure the health-care system – and its COVID-19 service – would not be affected by the labour dispute.
“We must recognize what the future looks like, beyond just this year …. Let’s make it realistic for those who are paying the bills.”
1:57Public sector workers in New Brunswick prepare to strikePublic sector workers in New Brunswick prepare to strike
Higgs has said his government is committed to working with CUPE to reach a fair deal, but he made it clear Friday he’s prepared to order the strikers back to work if necessary.
“If the union refuses to work with us to reach a reasonable agreement … we will take the actions necessary,” he said. “We are looking at options, including legislation, if that is what is takes to keep New Brunswickers safe and healthy …. I hope this will not be necessary.”
Drost said Higgs’s threat was unnecessary.
“We have designation levels to ensure the safety, security and protection of the public,” the union leader said, referring to the province’s essential worker rules. Legislating workers back would be “an abuse of power,” he said.
Earlier this week, the union had warned there would be a walkout, but it was unclear when that would happen. The announcement of the strike early Friday came as a rude shock to some.
Huey Lord, 49, said three of his four children were at home with him in Rothesay, N.B., which was disrupting his routine as a remote worker for a telecommunications firm. His wife, a nurse, had to go in to work Friday.
“Working from home, even if you have yourself squirrelled away, it’s hard for kids to differentiate between you being the guy working, versus you being the dad getting them waffles at any given point of the day,” he said.
“I’m certainly hoping this (walkout) isn’t a prolonged situation. We were just getting back to a regular routine and another disruption wasn’t something we anticipated.”
Teri McMackin, a 31-year-old resident of Petitcodiac, said the walkout meant shifting her five-year-old son out of kindergarten and back into daycare.
“My child isn’t getting a normal kindergarten experience and that’s the disappointing part,” she said. “He’s been in school for two months, he’s been developing habits and now he’s going back to daycare. For him, it’s a bit confusing.”
Still, McMackin said she supports the union’s actions.
“I want my kids to have fun and to be safe (at school), but I also want the people who are cleaning the schools and driving the buses to be paid fair wages.”
Higgs has said the government’s offer corresponds with agreements reached this fall with three other bargaining units. As well, his government has pledged to increase the pay of casual workers by 20 per cent, improve pension coverage and provide an average of $3,200 in retroactive pay.
The union has pointed out that the government announced its fourth consecutive budget surplus earlier this month.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 29, 2021.
-With files from Michael Tutton.
© 2021 The Canadian Press
Some medical services cancelled as CUPE strike enters Day 2
Premier won't rule out using Emergency Measures Act to force some workers back to work
Premier Blaine Higgs said he is exploring what to do to bring to an end job action undertaken by some health-care workers and hasn't ruled out using the Emergency Measures Act to force them back to work.
Higgs made the comments Saturday at a news conference about the strike by some CUPE workers, which is in its second day.
"I'm not going to overreact, but I am going to react as necessary," said Higgs.
"We will assess the health and safety impact because that would be the impetus to look at the Emergency Measures [Act.] ... but I don't want to use that loosely."
Higgs said the government would evaluate the state of the strike over the next 24 hours.
He said many of the health-care workers work in COVID-19 screening and vaccination roles, but are not classified as essential workers.
But he said they are important to help curb the spread of the virus regardless of how they are labelled.
"These functions are necessary to the continued health and safety of New Brunswickers," said Higgs.
Some clinics cancelled
As more medical staff hit the picket line, at least one COVID-19 vaccination clinic was cancelled. It was scheduled for Fredericton.
CBC News has reached out to the province to see whether any other clinics or testing sites have been closed because of the strike, but hasn't heard back.
In a tweet, Horizon Health said it is "assessing health care services and will notify the public if there is a change."
Vitalite Health has also confirmed that a flu clinic in Haut-Madawaska today was cancelled because of the strike.
While some services have already been affected, the province wrote in a press release Friday that contingencies are in place, but there are "no additional designated essential workers for the new services established to manage the COVID-19 pandemic."
"Labour disruptions targeting COVID-19 services would result in a significant reduction in the health system's capacity to provide COVID-19 screening for access to hospitals, COVID-19 assessment and PCR testing, laboratory services and vaccination."
Higgs said he didn't have exact figures on how many vaccination or testing clinics have been closed because of the strike because "it's kind of random at this stage."
He said this will reduce the number of vaccinations, particularly third doses, but the province is looking at ways to give out more vaccines at pharmacies.
Impacts on province
In a statement posted on the province's website, the government announced several other areas where it says the strike will impact government services.
It says the strike will delay laundry services in some hospitals and nursing homes in Fredericton, Moncton and Saint John. There are also ferry delays, the province says.
Starting Monday, all schools in the province will move to online learning until the strike is over.
Higgs stands behind offer
Higgs told reporters Friday that he stands by the offer the province made to the union.
He said the province offered wage increases of 8.5 per cent over five years, while the union wanted 12 per cent over five years.
"We have offered a fair package to the employees," Higgs said.
CUPE spokesperson Simon Ouellette said CUPE president Steve Drost has been in contact with Higgs, but that talks were not fruitful.
"It didn't go very far with the premier," said Ouellette. "He seems to have dug in his heels unfortunately.
"He's not interested in offering wages that are above inflation, which is difficult to understand after he's predicting a fifth consecutive surplus, and we're talking about the folks who ... are getting us out of the pandemic."
Some medical staff join picket line
Even more workers have gone on strike during Day 2 of labour action by CUPE locals in New Brunswick and some CUPE hospital workers have also walked off the job.
Bryan Harris, secretary treasurer of CUPE 1252 and an emergency medical dispatcher for Ambulance New Brunswick, confirmed that some workers in that local have walked off the job.
Harris said he can't say how many medical services have been impacted by the strike.
"I'm in Moncton, and there hasn't really been a whole lot of impact here. I've heard a couple of things, but a lot of it's hearsay. There's nothing I would really be able to confirm."
Harris said while the local is "100 per cent" in favour of the strike, that doesn't mean workers really want to be out on the picket line.
"We would much rather be doing our jobs and doing what we love to do, which is helping people. But we're just left with no choice," said Harris.
Those workers are in health zones three, four and seven.
Ten union locals are in strike position and some have been hitting the picket line after the province pulled out of negotiations earlier this week.
On Saturday, Ouellette said there are six locals officially on strike.
These include school district employees, educational support workers, New Brunswick Community College and Le Collège communautaire du Nouveau-Brunswick workers.
A letter posted to the union's Twitter page thanked New Brunswickers who had shown support for the action that started on Friday.
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