CUPE New Brunswick President Stephen Drost during a news conference.
The 10 CUPE New Brunswick locals without a contract have voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action.
On Wednesday morning, Local 1190, representing General Labour and Trades workers, revealed that of the over 1,448 members who voted, 95% are in favour of strike action, while fewer than 70 members voted against.
They are the last local to reveal their results after voting began for the 22,000 workers about one month ago.
”Mr. Higgs, you’ve got ten locals that have taken very, very strong strike mandates. Let’s not go down that road, don’t force us down that road, but our members have given us a very, very clear, strong message,” said CUPE New Brunswick President Stephen Drost during a news conference on Wednesday.
Because it takes about seven days to process all the necessary documents, Drost said all of these locals will be in a legal position to strike next week. As it stands, eight out of the ten locals are already in that position.
As a result, some locals have begun implementing “contractual obligations” meaning they will do only what is required of them in their collective agreements.
In terms of job action, Drost and CUPE will not show their hand, stating they will withhold “very specific details of their plans of action” which includes the dates of when job action may begin.
Throughout the strike votes, the union has remained firm on a 20% wage increase over four years, while the Higgs Government has previously offered a 9% wage increase over six years.
“These contracts have not been settled some of them for upwards of five years. These workers have not had fair wage increases for almost 15 years, some of them, if not longer,” Drost said.
With files from Brad Perry.
