Premier promises nursing home workers a new wage proposal they won't like
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Date: Sat, 28 Sep 2019 00:33:49 +0000
Subject: Automatic reply: YO Mr Jones do ya think Mr Higgs is reading CBC yet?
To: David Amos <david.raymond.amos333@gmail.com>
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David Raymond Amos@DavidRayAmos
Replying to @DavidRayAmos@alllibertynews and 49 others Methinks
the ghost of Lofty MacMillan is laughing at this nonsense while the
mean mouthed little Bobby Davidson is crying because he ain't
involved in this war of words N'esy Pas?
Final offer from province still not enough, nursing home union says
163 Comments Commenting is now closed for this story.
Ben
Haroldson Stay at higgs and the boys, they are treading on thin ice, and winter ain't even here.
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @Ben
Haroldson: Methinks this is a comedy and joke is on you because I am
getting too old to bother caring anymore N'esy Pas?
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @David Raymond Amos: The first comment made quote Pink Floyd so why not another?
If you should go skating
On the thin ice of modern life
Dragging behind you the silent reproach
Of a million tear stained eyes
Don't be surprised, when a crack in the ice
Appears under your feet
You slip out of your depth and out of your mind
With your fear flowing out behind you
David Raymond Amos Content disabled
Methinks Mr Higgs and his minions must read the CBC comment sections N'esy Pas?
David Raymond Amos
"We're willing to wait out the premier on that [St. Croix] byelection, and we can count, and he can count too," Cormier said. "If he loses that byelection, we can count as well. His government could fall."
Methinks the old Union dudes are as dumb as posts anyone with half a clue can see Higgs is baiting people on many fronts so that an election will be called while the liberals are in the toilet. Clearly the Ex-Cor Clown thinks he can win a majority next time around. However the Green Meanies and the PANB Wackos may serve upon Higgs and Vickers a rather shocking surprise if enough folks get tired of the NB Power nonsense such a 100 million for "Not So Smart" meters and huge NB Power payout to the the Irvings et al byway of Large Industrial Renewable Energy Purchase Program which was unveiled by the Alward government in 2011 N'esy Pas?
I bet Higgs remembers this headline
EUB challenges NB Power to reveal analysis of political burden
Crown corporation resists full disclosure of cost analysis to protect commercially sensitive information
Robert Jones · CBC News · Posted: Apr 29, 2016 7:23 AM AT
Ben Haroldson Reply to @David Raymond Amos: You guys go to sleep some early.
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @Ben Haroldson: Speak for yourself
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @Ben Haroldson: Wake up and smell the coffee
David Raymond Amos Methinks
the ghost of Lofty MacMillan is laughing at this nonsense while the
mean mouthed little Bobby Davidson is is crying because he ain't
involved in this war of words N'esy Pas?
Johnny
Horton I
feel bad for the 450 nursing home workers who think they already get
paid enough and want no part of this union and fellow worker greed,
Heather Michon
Reply to @Johnny
Horton: brothers and sisters stand together. And if you don't have the
guts to use your real name, don't expect to be taken seriously.
John Haigh
Reply to @Heather Michon: You use your real name yet nobody cares to take you seriously. Your math doesn't add up hun.
Johnny
Horton
Reply to @Heather Michon:
Only because union workers aren’t free citizens with free choice,
Greg Windsor
Reply to @Heather
Michon: ....socialism at it's finest... go ahead, I dare you to speak
out against the union....of course your car and home will be safe ...ha
ha
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @John Haigh: I use my real name as per the rules Do you?
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @John Haigh: methinks anyone can Google your name and share my doubt of your sincerity N'esy Pas?
David Raymond Amos "We
can't wait to see that clock run out in Charlotte County because we'll
certainly be in Charlotte County to ask the Tory candidate what he
thinks of the nursing home workers in his riding that he or she would be
representing," said union first vice-president Roland Cormier."
Too Too Funny Methinks they were serious and wished to force political
showdown with Higgs the Union dudes should be asking Gallant to stay in
his seat awhile longer and asking the liberal MLA to step down from the
Speakers Chair ASAP N'esy Pas?
David Raymond Amos Surprise Surprise Surprise
Terry Tibbs
Reply to @David Raymond Amos:
What do you think David? 48 hour flu coming right up?
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @Terry Tibbs: Methinks its par for the course N'esy Pas?
Chantal
LeBouthi On radio Canada Robert gauvin is telling austerity
Ray Bungay
Reply to @Chantal LeBouthi: Yes and the City of Saint John wants its workers to settle for around 1%, like when pigs fly!
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @Chantal
LeBouthi: Methinks some folks know that Robert Gauvin is just a comedian
who has links with the Irving Clan's media Hence he will never be
reelected on the North Shore Perhaps he should move to Saint John
Harbour and run there next time next time Everybody in Fat Fred City
knows that Stinktown could use a good laugh or two these days N'esy Pas?
Michael Levesque we
got money for Rodney Weston and Dana Glendenning to collect NB taxpayer
funded pension checks they DID NOT QUALIFY FOR bur we got no money for
valuable home care workers.
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @michael
levesque: Methinks you should ask yourself why I am humming that old
Pink Floyd tune called "Us and Them" Trust that the Union bosses doing
all the yapping are just playing their part at the circus because their
wages and pensions are secure N'esy Pas?
"Up and down.
But in the end it's only round and round.
Haven't you heard it's a battle of words
The poster bearer cried."
Premier promises nursing home workers a new wage proposal they won't like
90 Comments
Commenting is now closed for this story.
David Raymond Amos I
have been arguing the budget and pensions with Higgs and his cohorts
for years. The most memorable time was a after a debate with Rob Moore
the lawyer buddy of Higgs during the last federal election. I had some
fun but I bet Higgs was sorry he crossed paths with me that night. In
the last election during the only debate I was allowed to participate in
I explained again how I would go about us getting us out of debt
overnight and stop the lawsuits by merely honouring the deal with the
bureaucrats and teachers etc and their pension plans Bruce Northrup nor
anyone else dared to argue the common sense of such a simple idea. I
also repeated the simple idea on Rogers TV and it still can be viewed to
this very day.
Is anybody curious?
Johnny Horton
Reply to @David Raymond Amos:
Well as the people elected them and not you, I’d say they won that
debate, despite your evisiknist history. Heck they won it without even
needing to talk.
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @David
Raymond Amos: I see the Irving shill is still dogging me but whenever I
respond to him I am blocked Go Figure whose side CBC is on
Clarence
Slydell
Reply to @David Raymond Amos:
I posted this in reply to another poster on a different story but it applies here as well.
"Johnny boy likes to argue. He likes to take the opposing side of any
topic and put his own oddball spin on it and then hang on with all his
might, kinda like a pitbull with it's jaws clamped down on whatever
victim it chooses, making stuff up as he goes along and most people fall
right into his trap engaging him while he giggles with glee at the
attention he's getting.
There is a word for this kind of behaviour on internet boards but CBC
doesn't like anyone to use it as they seem to enjoy the results that it
brings."
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @Clarence Slydell: I figured that out months ago However the real question is why does CBC block replies to him?
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @Clarence Slydell: BTW scroll to the bottom comment to see what I said to Deschamps last night
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @Clarence
Slydell: BTW this is what he want folks to ignore now that my name is on
another ballot Obviously I am the first one to speak
Ben Haroldson It'll be final in his own mind. Time to call a new provincial election.Between him and cardy, things are NOT good.
Johnny
Horton
Reply to @Ben Haroldson:
Yes they were SOOOOO MUCH better when the libs bid $100m on some sports games and gave their buddies six figure patronage jobs,
Johnny
Horton
Reply to @Ben Haroldson:
Yea ATCON was so much better.
Ben Haroldson
Reply to @Johnny Horton: did I say anything about electing libs? I have NEVER voted lib in my life. So figure it out wise guy.
Ben Haroldson
Reply to @Johnny
Horton: For that matter, I have NEVER voted pc provincially either. I
did use the fed pcs to get rid of the gun reg, and I am going to do it
again.
Johnny
Horton
Reply to @Ben Haroldson:
What other choices are there, the greens and ndp will do the exact same thing. It’s the whole core of party politics.
Ben Haroldson
Reply to @Johnny
Horton: Waste yer vote. I usually vote for the party or ind not aligned
with gun control, heck I'd even vote for the DA if he was running in my
riding.
Johnny
Horton
Reply to @Ben Haroldson:
The whole problem with turfing governments every four or eight years is
that they don’t have time to get anything accomplished in terms of real
change. They spend their time trying to undo the mess the previous
government left behind.
Ben Haroldson
Reply to @Johnny Horton: On the pot thing, the big delay was for the hairy man to get all his buds in the door.
Johnny
Horton
Reply to @Ben Haroldson:
Yep cause there aren’t enough deaths due to guns in Toronto. Nobody
NEEDS a gun. People want them sure but they don’t need them.
Ben Haroldson
Reply to @Johnny
Horton: Coruption is the problem. Doesn't matter who gets in fed, or
prov, every one of them passes through the event horizon of the black
hole of corruption. We need to get to the bottom of that in a hurry.
Ben Haroldson
Reply to @Johnny
Horton: It's a hobby for me. I hunt, and I love wild meat, and I love
the woods. I'm not hurting a thing and I'm all legal, but whenever
something happens in the big smoke, I'm one of the ones who gets
punished.
Johnny
Horton
Reply to @Ben Haroldson:
People hunted wild meat for millennia before guns...
Ben Haroldson
Reply to @Johnny Horton: Well then why aren't we still doing it that way?
Johnny
Horton
Reply to @Ben Haroldson:
You tell me, you are the one using the gun :)
Lewis Taylor
Reply to @Johnny Horton:
remember Orimulsion??
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @Ben Haroldson:" heck I'd even vote for the DA if he was running in my riding."
Thank You Kind Sir
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @Ben Haroldson: Methinks you will like what I said about my guns N'esy Pas?
Raising a Little Hell- Lively Debate Provokes Crowd
By Erin Hatfield
"If you don't like what you got, why don't you change it? If your world is all screwed up, rearrange it."
The 1979 Trooper song Raise a Little Hell blared on the speakers at the
8th Hussars Sports Center Friday evening as people filed in to watch the
Fundy candidates debate the issues. It was an accurate, if unofficial,
theme song for the debate.
The crowd of over 200 spectators was dwarfed by the huge arena, but as
they chose their seats, it was clear the battle lines were drawn.
Supporters of Conservative candidate Rob Moore naturally took the blue
chairs on the right of the rink floor while John Herron's Liberalswent
left. There were splashes of orange, supporters of NDP Pat Hanratty,
mixed throughout. Perhaps the loudest applause came from a row towards
the back, where supporters of independent candidate David Amos sat."
"Staying true to party platforms for the most part, candidates responded
to questions about the gun registry, same sex marriage, the exodus of
young people from the Maritimes and regulated gas prices. Herron and
Moore were clear competitors,constantly challenging each other on their
answers and criticizing eachothers’ party leaders. Hanratty flew under
the radar, giving short, concise responses to the questions while Amos
provided some food for thought and a bit of comic relief with quirky
answers. "I was raised with a gun," Amos said in response to the
question of the national gun registry. "Nobody's getting mine and I'm
not paying 10 cents for it."
Johnny
Horton
Reply to @David Raymond Amos:
You mean how the liberals promised an inquiry until they got into power
and shut one down so the citizens couldn’t delve into the deal they made
for $338 million while having lost $700m on the rifrvidhment,
Typica” liberal math though as long as some money coma in, it doesn’t matter the actual cost.
Ben Haroldson
Reply to @David Raymond Amos: Good luck next time
Ben Haroldson
Reply to @Johnny
Horton: " Nobody NEEDS a gun. People want them sure but they don’t need
them. " That statement is as liberal as it gets around here, so you
really don't know what you are or aren't.
Johnny
Horton
Reply to @Ben Haroldson:
I’m libertarian, no government.
But my political leanings have nothing to doe tin if people need a gun or not,
. Shoot, I’m not even opposed to guns. However people still don’t need
them despite what I actually think of them. That’s too separate issue.
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @Ben
Haroldson: Next Time? I am on the the ballot in Fundy Royal right now I
don't need luck because I have no false illusions of ever winning If you
watched what I said on Rogers TV when I ran against Bruce Northrup et
al last fall you should have noticed that I didn't ask anyone to vote
for me. I use the political debates to expose the public corruption in
support of my litigation.
George Smith
Seems a significant
number of Higgs appointments are Irving people. He treats bargaining
like the Irvings too. Welcome to the New Irving government. I believe
the others parties should defeat him and he'd be thrown out of office.
But that won't happen because they have a say in this Minority
Government and probably wouldn't have a say after a new election.
Johnny Horton
Reply to @George Smith:
Why? So the liberals can again get in power and hire all their buddies for the next frsncophonie games?
George Smith
Reply to @Johnny Horton:
So you support the new Irving run Government of N.B. We always knew they
ran our province no matter what party was in power. Higgs just makes
it official.
Johnny Horton
Reply to @George Smith:
So why it when one says something on the internet, it automatically implies the opposite.
Can one not like either? Must one spell thst our in every single post,
Although I do support both parties limiting the raise to 1% like all the other groups got.
I do find it very hypocritical though that suddenly the liberals want
blood on this file. It’s just so bloody transparent politics. For
something hike in power, against it while not in power. Thst goes for
many things including in this case, patronage sppoitments and the 1%
raise.
Lewis Taylor
Reply to @Johnny Horton:
Horton are you an Irving employee???
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @Lewis Taylor: Of course he is
Johnny Horton
Reply to @Lewis Taylor:
Right, so one can’t criticize the other side, if they do. They clearly work for Irving, left wing logic.
One csn dislike bofh you know, it doesn’t need to be pointed out in every post everything gone dislikes,
David Raymond Amos
Content disabled
Reply to @Lewis
Taylor: Its a waste of precious time arguing with an Irving However an
Irving Newsrag did tell a little truth about me years ago
The Unconventional Candidate
David Amos Isn’t Campaigning For Your Vote, But….
By Gisele McKnight
FUNDY—He has a pack of cigarettes in his shirt pocket, a chain on his
wallet, a beard at least a foot long, 60 motorcycles and a cell phone
that rings to the tune of "Yankee Doodle."
Meet the latest addition to the Fundy ballot—David Amos.
The independent candidate lives in Milton, Massachusetts with his wife
and two children, but his place of residence does not stop him from
running for office in Canada.
One has only to be at least 18, a Canadian citizen and not be in jail to meet Elections Canada requirements.
When it came time to launch his political crusade, Amos chose his favourite place to do so—Fundy.
Amos, 52, is running for political office because of his dissatisfaction with politicians.
"I’ve become aware of much corruption involving our two countries," he
said. "The only way to fix corruption is in the political forum."
The journey that eventually led Amos to politics began in Sussex in
1987. He woke up one morning disillusioned with life and decided he
needed to change his life.
"I lost my faith in mankind," he said. "People go through that sometimes in midlife."
So Amos, who’d lived in Sussex since 1973, closed his Four Corners
motorcycle shop, paid his bills and hit the road with Annie, his 1952
Panhead motorcycle.
"Annie and I rode around for awhile (three years, to be exact)
experiencing the milk of human kindness," he said. "This is how you
renew your faith in mankind – you help anyone you can, you never ask for
anything, but you take what they offer."
David Raymond Amos
Content disabled
Reply to @David Raymond Amos:
For those three years, they offered food, a place to sleep, odd jobs and conversation all over North America.
Since he and Annie stopped wandering, he has married, fathered a son and
a daughter and become a house-husband – Mr. Mom, as he calls himself.
He also describes himself in far more colourful terms—a motorcyclist
rather than a biker, a "fun-loving, free-thinking, pig-headed
individual," a "pissed-off Maritimer" rather than an activist, a proud
Canadian and a "wild colonial boy."
Ironically, the man who is running for office has never voted in his life.
"But I have no right to criticize unless I offer my name," he said.
"It’s alright to ***** in the kitchen, but can you walk the walk?"
What he’s fighting for is the discussion of issues – tainted blood, the
exploitation of the Maritimes’ gas and oil reserves and NAFTA, to name a
few.
"The political issues in the Maritimes involve the three Fs – fishing,
farming and forestry, but they forget foreign issues," he said. "I’m
death on NAFTA, the back room deals and free trade. I say chuck it
(NAFTA) out the window.
NAFTA is the North American Free Trade Agreement which allows an easier
flow of goods between Canada, the United States and Mexico.
Amos disagrees with the idea that a vote for him is a wasted vote.
"There are no wasted votes," he said. "I want people like me, especially
young people, to pay attention and exercise their right. Don’t
necessarily vote for me, but vote."
Although…if you’re going to vote anyway, Amos would be happy to have your X by his name.
"I want people to go into that voting booth, see my name, laugh and say, ‘what the hell.’"
Johnny Horton It’s
hilarious watching all the liberals foaming at the bit for Higgs had
over this - w%%hen the liberals had the file for over two years and made
basically the exact same offer.
Lewis TaylorContent disabled Reply to @Johnny Horton: Irving Boy!
David Raymond Amos
Content disabled
Reply to @Lewis Taylor: I call him an Irving shill
Kyle Woodman How
can Higgs, on the one hand, say we have no money but then appoint a
partisan "tourism consultant" with no credentials to a newly created
position for $175,000 /year +expenses. We are already paying a qualified
deputy minister to do that job. Dosen't sound like "finding
efficiencies" to me.
Johnny Horton
Reply to @Kyle Woodman:
So as long as the money goes instead to this special interest group instead of that special interest group, it’s okay?
Kyle Woodman
Reply to @Johnny Horton: what special interest group is Yetta Hurley part of?
Johnny Horton
Reply to @Kyle Woodman:
Special interest group, as in a group looking out for their own special interests,
Kyle Woodman
Reply to @Johnny Horton: you think you're pretty smart, don't you. It comes across as arrogance.
Johnny Horton
Reply to @Kyle Woodman:
I don’t see why pointing out s group of people wanting a raise higher
than what every other government group has gotten is arrogant, and it’s
certainly self interest to demand a raise more than others got.
David Raymond Amos
Content disabled
Reply to @Kyle Woodman: I truly believe he is as dumb as post
Johnny Horton All those poor stressed out laundry workers need their 20% raise.
George Smith
Reply to @Johnny Horton:
Just wondering which Irving company you work for.
Johnny Horton
Reply to @George Smith:
I don’t work for Irving never did. I do however though think government
wages should be in line with private sector wages for the same job,
Lewis Taylor
Reply to @Johnny Horton:
You could get a job and work in a nursing home?
David Raymond Amos
Content disabled
Reply to @Johnny Horton: Pure D BS
Johnny Horton
Reply to @Lewis Taylor:
If they’d hire me without needing to join a union so I can negotiate my
own job description and salary. Sure, I could leave retirement to pitch
in,
Matt Steele Govt.
workers need to realize that N.B. is broke , and the TAXPAYERS ARE
MAXED OUT . The Province currently has a 14 BILLION dollar debt ; and
pays around 2 MILLION per day just in interest . Maybe if these Govt.
workers want more money , they should get a job in the private sector ,
and see what they are getting paid . No one is forcing these workers to
work for govt. as they can quit any time that they wish
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @Matt Steele: Cry me another river
SarahRose
Werner "This
has to be a team." - Oh, yeah, telling people, "You won't like this but
it's final," that's a really great way to inspire team work. Being a
team depends on trust, and Higgs has yet to give the workers any reasons
to trust him.
Johnny Horton
Reply to @SarahRose Werner:
The “team” is the group of workers that get paid by the government. The Rest of the team has accepted 1%.
Marguerite Deschamps
Reply to @SarahRose
Werner: Where the elusive Higgs Bozon worked before, he used to tell
people what to do. That's what he calls team work.
Marguerite Deschamps
Reply to @Johnny Horton:
Lewis Taylor
Reply to @Johnny Horton:
Not so popular...IRving boy
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @Lewis Taylor: HMMMM
Paul Bourgoin One
has to understand that here in New Brunswick subsidies to industry who
milk government funds, benefit from tax breaks are more important
than services to the owners of New Brunswick, the RESIDENTS!
Johnny Horton
Reply to @Paul tha
One has to understand that here in NB, one is part of a system. that if
one gets 20%, sll have to get 20%. Thst as everyone else has accepted
1%, they must accept that is what they will get too.
Marguerite Deschamps
Reply to @Johnny
Horton: I
always thought you CONservative supporters understood the market forces
of capitalism and offer and demand? - Maybe the elusive Higgs Bozon
will, too late, he'll finally see, that health care workers have gone
somewhere else.
Johnny Horton
Reply to @Marguerite Deschamps:
First off I’m not conservative.
You do know people can be something other than a lib or a con right?
Secondly. There is nothing capitalist nor supply and demand about a union.
Drop the union, let each worker negotiate their own value, then you’ll actually have capitalism,
Marguerite Deschamps
Reply to @Johnny Horton: then what are you, green?
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @Marguerite Deschamps: Methinks he is playing you like a fiddle N'esy Pas?
Final offer from province still not enough, nursing home union says
Union leaders expect wage proposal will be rejected by members, prolonging the dispute
CUPE
officials Roland Cormier, right, and Patrick Roy, who said the new
offer still isn't enough to recruit new employees and reduce chronic
shortages. (Jacques Poitras/CBC)
Unionized nursing home workers are
inching closer to a showdown with New Brunswick's Progressive
Conservative government following a final offer from the province.
Officials
from the New Brunswick Council of Nursing Home Unions took the unusual
step Friday morning of sharing details of the government offer with
reporters.
Under the law, if the province declares it a final offer, it must go to members for a vote.
The union leaders say they'll comply but they predicted the wage increases will be rejected by members, prolonging the dispute.
Patrick
Roy, the provincial co-ordinator for nursing home workers at the
Canadian Union of Public Employees, said the package is still not enough
to recruit new employees and reduce chronic shortages.
"We've
got a bunch of employees that are overworked," he said. "They're working
short. They're working overtime through the roof. … Every home pretty
well works short every single day, every shift."
Higgs responded
at his own news conference, vowing to work with the union to address
those issues but asserting that wage increases aren't the only way to do
it.
He said high sick-day numbers are "an indication of the conditions at work" in nursing homes.
"I
want to work with them to fix those conditions. … We know they work
hard. No one has ever questioned that and we don't question that."
Premier Blaine Higgs said he wants to work with the union but the final offer is "fair and reasonable." (CBC)
But, he said, "this final offer is fair and reasonable and it is affordable for New Brunswick taxpayers."
The
offer is for wage increases over four years of one, 1.25, 1.5 and 1.75
per cent. Last year members rejected a tentative agreement with annual
increases of one percent each year for four years.
But the offer also includes a demand that workers give up two sick days per year as a tradeoff.
The union said it's looking for a three per cent increase in each of the four years of a contract.
Roy
said the union was releasing the numbers because Higgs has been
negotiating through the media, something the two sides had agreed not to
do.
CUPE supporters carried
cardboard cutouts of each MLA to re-enact a legislature vote in May
that sided with the workers' desire to have binding arbitration. (Hadeel Ibrahim/CBC)
Earlier this week, Higgs confirmed a new offer was coming but said it would fall short of union demands.
"Right up front, it's not going to be what they want," he said Tuesday.
The
fact the offer would include a wage increase was leaked to another
media organization late on Thursday, prompting Friday morning's news
conference by the union.
Responding two hours later, Higgs again
accused CUPE of seeking wage increases designed to set a precedent for
other public-sector bargaining units in the province. He said if they
all won the same raises, it would cost the government $300 million a
year.
"That kind of a bill would almost certainly lead to tax increases or service reductions or a combination of both," he said.
The
Employment and Labour Board will oversee the voting on the offer, and
it will happen in individual nursing homes at different times. Higgs
said he hopes that can be wrapped up within two months.
The
premier wouldn't say what will happen if the offer is rejected. He said
he has faith that rank-and-file nursing home workers will approve it.
"I'm not going to pre-suppose what happens. I don't believe the average worker in a nursing home is out shaking their fist."
The
union says it's prepared to wait out the premier and intervene in an
upcoming byelection that he must call within six months.
The riding of St. Croix is vacant following the death of cabinet minister Greg Thompson.
Cormier, the union first vice-president, spoke at the CUPE news conference on Friday morning. (CBC)
"We
can't wait to see that clock run out in Charlotte County because we'll
certainly be in Charlotte County to ask the Tory candidate what he
thinks of the nursing home workers in his riding that he or she would be
representing," said union first vice-president Roland Cormier.
Higgs's
PC party has 21 seats in the legislature and the Liberals have 19, not
including Speaker Daniel Guitard. A byelection will also be due in
Shediac Bay-Dieppe following the resignation of former premier Brian
Gallant.
"We're willing to wait out the premier on that [St.
Croix] byelection, and we can count, and he can count too," Cormier
said. "If he loses that byelection, we can count as well. His government
could fall."
Nursing home workers have been without a contract
since 2016. The legislature passed a law in 2009 declaring most nursing
home workers essential, meaning they were not allowed to strike.
But
the union challenged the law's constitutionality, and in July a Court
of Queen's Bench judge upheld a labour ruling that the law was
unconstitutional.
The New Brunswick Court of Appeal will hear the province's appeal of the decision Oct. 29.
The
July ruling doesn't take effect until January so the workers can't
strike until then, giving the government time to introduce a modified
law on essential workers in nursing homes.
Higgs said the government is drafting such a bill.
But
it's not clear the PCs would be able to get it passed. The party
doesn't have a majority in the house, and MLAs from the three opposition
parties passed a symbolic motion in May calling for binding
arbitration.
Premier promises nursing home workers a new wage proposal they won't like
Offer will be presented this week or next and will be 'final,' premier says
CBC ·
CUPE supporters carried
cardboard cutouts of MLAs to re-enact a legislature vote in May that
sided with the workers' desire to have binding arbitration. (Hadeel Ibrahim/CBC)
Premier Blaine Higgs says he will have a
new offer for nursing home workers who've been trying for years to get a
wage increase, but he expects the union won't like it.
"Right
up front, it's not going to be what they want," Higgs told reporters at a
news conference Tuesday in Fredericton. "It's going to be, you know, we
need to find money in the system."
Higgs said he'll be
presenting the offer this week or next. Contract talks have been going
on between the New Brunswick Association of Nursing Homes and the union
representing nursing home workers since the last agreement expired in
2016.
The
talks broke down and a strike vote was held in March. Workers haven't
been able to strike because of back-to-back court challenges.
The
province is appealing a lower court decision from July in favour of the
Canadian Union of Public Employees. Court of Queen's Bench Justice
Tracey DeWare ruled the province's Essential Services in Nursing Homes
Act was unconstitutional, upholding a December 2018 labour board
decision.
Premier Blaine Higgs addresses reporters Tuesday in Fredericton. (Ed Hunter/CBC)
The province appealed, arguing DeWare made multiple errors in law. The arguments will be heard in late October.
After
spending weeks in talks, with the provincial government at the table,
the parties haven't come close to reaching an agreement on wage
increases.
CUPE represents the 4,100 workers, who include
licensed practical nurses, resident attendants, support service workers
such as dietary and laundry workers and some clerical workers.
The
union wants a 20 per cent wage increase over four years. The government
has limited wage increases to one per cent a year for the public
sector, or about 10 cents an hour.
Higgs said the province's offer to nursing home workers will be the final one.
"It
essentially will be [final] because it's, you know, we've put others
and they flat out reject them," he said. "I think this one needs to go
to the membership and be voted."
Sharon Teare, president of the New Brunswick Council of Nursing Home Unions, demonstrators outside the legislature Tuesday. (Ed Hunter/CBC)
In
response to this comment, Sharon Teare, president of the New Brunswick
Council of Nursing Home Unions, said the membership has always dictated
what the union does, not the other way around.
On the same day
Higgs made the remarks, CUPE supporters were demonstrating outside the
legislature. Carrying cardboard cutouts of each MLA, demonstrators
re-enacted a legislature vote in May that sided with the workers' call
for binding arbitration.
Teare, who was among the demonstrators, called Higgs's comments "disappointing."
"It's unfortunate that he senses that it's not ... something that we're going to like. So, obviously, is it a waste of time?"
In
May, a motion by the Opposition Liberals supporting the nursing home
workers' call for binding arbitration was backed by two People's
Alliance MLAs and three Greens. The motion was symbolic but CUPE wants
Premier Blaine Higgs to honour it. (Jacques Poitras/CBC)
The
government has said it will only support binding arbitration under the
condition the arbitrator consider the wage increases already negotiated
with its other unionized employees. The union has rejected this
approach, saying it wouldn't amount to binding arbitration.
In
May, MLAs approved a symbolic motion calling for binding arbitration,
and on Tuesday CUPE demonstrators said the Higgs government is not
honouring this vote.
Higgs said what he's telling nursing home workers is the same thing he's telling everyone else: the resources are too limited.
Because of the financial challenges, this "can't be a typical union-management relationship," he said.
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