New Brunswick Prime Minister Blaine Higgs requested a meeting Thursday with the head of the union that represents civil servants in the province, a week after 22,000 workers went on strike.
But CUPE New Brunswick President Steve Drost said Wednesday he did not know if the meeting will result in the resumption of formal negotiations. He said the prime minister’s request came via text message. The prime minister’s office confirmed the invitation for 1 p.m. Thursday.
“Nothing has been established,” Drost said in an interview. “I said I would check with our centralized negotiating team and go back to (Higgs), but we hope we have a chance to figure this out.”
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Contract talks with mediation came to an abrupt end last week with the union representing 22,000 workers, such as school bus drivers, educational support staff and workers in transportation, correctional facilities and the community college system. The main problem is wages and the union is seeking a 12 percent increase in four years, while the last government offer was 8.5 percent in five years.
In addition, the government has pledged to increase the salary of casual workers by 20 percent, improve pension coverage, and provide an average of $ 3,200 in back pay.
Drost said the prime minister is trying to force pension reform on a couple of groups, adding that the pension issue is not relevant to this round of negotiations and should be put aside.
Green leader David Coon also recommended negotiating a salary deal and leaving pensions for a later date.
Higgs, however, said Wednesday that all issues should remain on the table.
“The issues that are currently being discussed must continue to be debated and resolved,” he told reporters in the legislature. “We don’t take anything off the table and I hope they don’t come back with anything less than their three percent demand (per year).”
Higgs said the union’s demand is too rich for the government.
“The inflation rate in the last five years has averaged two percent,” he said. “What we are trying to do is build an agreement here that can be administered through the system without tax increases.”
Outside the legislature, a large and noisy group of striking CUPE members and their supporters marched around the building for the second day in a row. The strike has affected schools and hospitals and forced the cancellation of some COVID-19 screening and vaccination clinics.
The prime minister said the extent of that impact will guide the government’s decision whether a return to work order is required. “I still find this to be a shocking situation to be on strike in a pandemic and hospitals are being affected,” he said.
“My preference is that we go back to the table and we can start to deal with the problems and we don’t have to come up with an emergency order.”
Meanwhile, 600 unionized employees at Crown-owned liquor stores in New Brunswick announced Wednesday that they were beginning strike voting, which would be completed on Saturday. Members of CUPE Local 963 have been negotiating for more than two years.
The province’s labor board declared a deadlock in negotiations last month.
This Canadian Press report was first published on November 3, 2021.
© 2021 The Canadian Press
Reference-globalnews.ca