Premier Blaine Higgs speaks during a COVID-19 briefing on December 17, 2020. (CPAC)
The provincial government has filed a complaint to the New Brunswick Labour and Employment Board, claiming CUPE Local 1190 engaged in unfair labour practices and bad faith bargaining.
New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs claims to have evidence that the union branch posted signs around their workplace that do not accurately represent the offer made by the provincial government.
“This is very disappointing and appears to indicate CUPE is more interested in going on strike than it is in making a reasonable and good-faith effort to conclude a collective agreement,” said Higgs in a news release.
The Premier said union posters urge members to vote in favour of a strike “if they feel casual employees deserve to be paid more than 80 per cent of the job rate and if they feel a wage increase of zero per cent for the first six months and 0.5 per cent every six months thereafter is insufficient.”
According to Higgs, these statements are false, and instead, the offer he put on the table includes increasing the pay of casuals with less than six consecutive months of service from 80 per cent to 100 per cent of the regular job rate.
In addition, the province states their offer proposes wage increases, starting on the first day of a contract of 0.625 per cent every six months.
CUPE Local 1190 represents more than 1,500 workers, mainly at the departments of Transportation and Infrastructure, Tourism, Heritage and Culture, and Service New Brunswick.
