Labour Prez Not Re-Offering

There will be a change at the top of the New Brunswick Federation of Labour this week.

Patrick Colford is not re-offering to serve as president after six years in the role.

He tells us he believes a good leader knows when its time to step back.

“I’m not going away, I’m just no longer going to be president of the Federation of Labour. I am looking forward to getting back to the grassroots and working shoulder to shoulder with the workers of this province.”

Colford is proud of passing legislation regarding first contract arbitration and he tells us it took 40 years of lobbying government to make it happen.

“What basically happens is you vote to form a union, you come to negotiations and the employer in a lot of cases says ‘I don’t really have to bargain with you.'”

Colford says the question becomes, “Why be unionized and organized if you can’t take care of that first contract.”

He says this legislation allows a level playing field where if a deal can’t be reached, a mediator will come in to secure that first deal and after a period of time the parties go back to negotiating.

He considers workers being undervalued one of the biggest challenges facing this province and he cites the ongoing disputes in Belledune and with nursing home workers as examples.