Labour board dismisses CUPE complaint after some workers ordered back to work
Union representing health-care workers who were forced back to job alleges intimidation by government
On Friday, Public Safety Minister Ted Flemming said cabinet was using the Emergency Measures Act to issue an order forcing more than 3,000 striking health-care workers to go back to their jobs.
Over the weekend, the affected custodians, patient services workers and laundry workers went back to work while their union challenged the order with the New Brunswick Labour and Employment Board.
According to board ruling filed Sunday, CUPE alleged the province was trying to "compel, by intimidation or threat," employees who are not designated essential to stop striking.
In its response, the province first said the labour board lacked the jurisdiction to consider the mandatory order. The province also said the order is lawful and denied CUPE's allegations.
The order does not note the reasons why the complaint was dismissed, except to say the chair was not satisfied that the province violated the Public Service Labour Relations Act.
The full written reasons are typically completed weeks after the decision itself is made.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FO8399116C0&ab_channel=CUPENewBrunswick
Un message sur l'arreté d'urgence de Higgs // Higgs' back to work emergency order
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywgHbmDcQvY&ab_channel=CUPENewBrunswick
Our Counter Offer // Notre contre-offre
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https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/cupe-strike-stalemate-1.6240533
CUPE, province at an impasse as strike reaches Day 10
Unionized workers picket across province as students prepare for Week 2 of at-home learning
The Canadian Union of Public Employees and the New Brunswick government are at an impasse as the strike moves into its 10th day.
Premier Blaine Higgs said Saturday that he was shocked the union didn't accept an offer his government presented last week.
Steve Drost, CUPE New Brunswick president, said Sunday the union sent the province a counter-offer on Friday, but has yet to receive a response.
Drost said there are no plans for the two sides to meet.
On Friday, the province ordered striking health-care workers back to work.
Those mandated back include more than 2,000 workers in locals 1252, 1190 and 1251, which represent support staff in vaccination clinics and hospitals, and those providing laundry services to hospitals and nursing homes.
The order only applies to striking workers in the health sector. School staff, jail guards, court stenographers and others on strike are not affected and are continuing strike action.
The union's lawyers are looking into how they could challenge the order, Drost said Saturday.
The most recent offer from the union seeks a wage increase of two per cent per year, plus an additional 25 cents per hour per year for the first three years, and 50 cents per hour for the fourth and fifth years.
The province's most recent offer includes the same two per cent increase each year, plus an increase of 25 cents per hour in each of the five years. There is also a demand that some locals concede to pension changes.
The province wants the union to shift two locals into the province's shared-risk pension plan.
Both the province and the union agree that casuals should have wages increased to 100 per cent of the applicable regular rate of pay, up from the current 80 per cent.
Because of the labour dispute, all schools across the province will continue with at-home learning Monday for the second week in a row.
Striking health-care workers back to work in N.B. after province invokes emergency order
Over 2,000 workers are complying with the province's order to return to work
![](https://thumbnails.cbc.ca/maven_legacy/thumbnails/277/407/web-cupe-nb-110621.jpg?crop=1.777xh:h;*,*&downsize=510px:* 510w")
Health-care workers returning to work after premier's order, CUPE N.B. president says
Striking health-care workers in New Brunswick, members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, are complying with the province's back-to-work order, union leaders say.
The order announced by the justice minister on Friday impacts health-care workers in locals 1252, 1190 and 1251, which represent support staff in vaccination clinics and hospitals, and those providing laundry services to hospitals and nursing homes.
"They decided that they were going back to work this morning because it was an order," said Norma Robinson, the president of Local 1252.
Robinson's local represents support staff and maintenance workers in hospitals, including over 2,000 who have been ordered back to work.
The local has about 9,000 members in all, including 70 per cent who have already been working throughout the strike since they were deemed essential by the province.
Over 200 laundry workers are also impacted by the order, in addition to 48 workers in the supply chain that supports hospitals.
"I just want to express how frustrated and angry our members are with the application of the Emergency Measures Act," said Chris Curran, the president of the local representing laundry workers.
"Members feel like they've been cheated of their right to strike."
Thousands of striking and locked-out public-sector workers
and supporters gathered at the legislature in Fredericton on Tuesday.
(Miriam Lafontaine/CBC)
Hospitals never reached out to his local to say the services at the hospitals were reaching emergency levels, Curran said, and workers would have been willing to step in if it was needed.
The order, which is separate from the existing COVID-19 mandatory order, only applies to striking workers in the health-care field. School staff, jail guards, court stenographers and others on strike are not affected and can continue strike action.
Hefty fines for non-compliance
Health-care workers who fail to show up to work when scheduled could face fines ranging from $480 to $20,400 per day. Those encouraging workers to strike could also face fines.
"In addition, CUPE will be fined a minimum of $100,000 for each day that a worker does not comply with the mandatory order," the province wrote in a statement issued Friday.
Under the order, hospitals can assign non-bargaining employees or contract the work elsewhere to ensure the continuation of services if necessary, the statement added.
N.B.
Public Safety Minister and Attorney General Ted Flemming announced
Friday that his government was using the Emergency Measures Act to force
striking health-care workers back to work at midnight Friday. (Joe McDonald/CBC)
At a press conference Friday afternoon, the CEOs of the province's two health authorities said they asked for the order out of concern for patients, including many who have had urgent surgeries cancelled.
By early afternoon on Saturday, both health authorities sent out press releases welcoming the workers back. The Vitalité Health Network said the situation at hospitals is already improving — and over the coming days they'll work to increase hospital capacity for surgeries.
The province says it has not heard any reports from either health networks regarding employees not showing up to their shifts, according to a release shared Saturday.
Robinson said some of her members have been turned away from their hospital shifts by management despite being scheduled, including many in the Campbellton region.
"They were informed this morning they were not included in this mandatory order," she said.
The CBC has since reached out to Vitalité for comment.
CUPE considers legal options
CUPE president Steve Drost said even though health-care workers are complying with the order, the union's lawyers are looking into how they could challenge it.
There are already laws in place to ensure essential workers stay on the job during strike action, he emphasized, saying the mandatory order is outrageous.
"It's simply a tool that was used to interfere with these members' legal rights," Drost said in an afternoon press conference on Saturday.
Steve Drost, president of CUPE New Brunswick, spoke at an afternoon press conference on Saturday. (CBC)
The union has also been scrambling to figure out who the order applies to among their members.
"The unions have been complying with this order, but there certainly are a lot of questions about who it applies to and who it doesn't apply to," Drost added in an interview.
The province has yet to respond to the union's counter-offer that was shared following talks on Friday, the union said.
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