https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/cupe-strike-new-brunswick-1.6238217
Striking workers heckle, jeer as premier addresses CUPE news conference
Government schedules its own news conference on dispute for 2:45 p.m.
New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs crashed a news conference by the Canadian Union of Public Employees on Friday morning as efforts to end a week-old strike by public-sector workers appeared to go off the rails.
CUPE officials were laying out a counter-proposal they made to the government overnight when the premier appeared at the news conference outside the legislature in Fredericton.
"That's not how bargaining works," CUPE New Brunswick president Stephen Drost told reporters later, though Drost had challenged Higgs to "come out right now and … settle this" just before the premier's arrival.
Higgs listened to Drost outline Thursday's discussions for several minutes before the union offered him its microphone to address the crowd.
Higgs then laid out his position, defending pension changes in the province's offer, and getting into back-and-forth debates with some of the union leaders and with striking workers in the crowd.
Canadian Union of Public Employees president Steve Drost handed the microphone to Premier Blaine Higgs at a union news conference Friday in Fredericton. Higgs defended the pension changes in the province's offer the night before, and said health-care workers need to go back to work. (CBC)
"No one loses anything in their current plans," he said, trying to explain details of the province's proposal on pensions for two CUPE locals not part of the existing shared-risk plan.
He said health-care workers need to come back to work, which was met with jeers from the crowd.
Eventually, he asked for a more orderly question-and-answer format. At that point, CUPE asked for its microphone back and the premier left.
The dramatic and unconventional confrontation took place just an hour after Higgs told the legislature that CUPE had promised after a marathon meeting Thursday to recommend a government offer to its members.
The first of more than 20,000 CUPE members began walking off the job last Friday morning after contract negotiations with the province collapsed for the second time.
The striking workers include jail guards, school custodians, educational assistants, court stenographers, and clerical and cleaning staff working for regional health authorities.
Higgs said in question period Friday morning that "we had a path forward when we left last night" that CUPE leaders promised to recommend to members, so he was disappointed to see health-care workers still picketing.
"We had an agreement last night," he said. But he said there was a condition attached to it about health-care workers returning to their jobs quickly.
Higgs said Attorney-General Ted Flemming and Health Minister Dorothy Shephard "are reviewing our options at this stage," a reference to the possibility of back-to-work legislation or the use of the province's emergency order to end the strike.
"We are in a pandemic," Higgs said. "We will address the issues in our hospitals. … We will be moving forward to get health-care workers back to work."
The government has scheduled a news conference for 2:45 p.m.
Drost told the outdoor news conference that he sent the government a counter-proposal to Thursday night's offer at 4:03 a.m.
He said if the province had accepted it, he had been prepared to send union members back to work Friday morning, but no response had come.
"We have gone above and beyond every step of this way to protect the public and protect you, but once again, tricks are being played," he said.
The first of several CUPE locals representing 20,000 workers walked off the job the morning of Oct. 29.
Drost arrived for the meeting with Higgs on Thursday at 1 p.m. and left at 8:45 p.m.
The dispute has focused on CUPE's push for wage increases, but Higgs is insisting that the union also agree to shift two of the union locals into the province's shared-risk pension plan.
That dispute over pensions was the focus of Higg's impromptu debates with CUPE members during his surprise appearance at the news conference.
Premier Blaine Higgs arrives at the Canadian Union of Public Employees' news conference at the foot of the legislature Friday morning. (Jacques Poitras/CBC)
Higgs said during question period that the province had received a response from CUPE but would not say what it was.
But he said the union had raised "something additional" that wasn't part of Thursday's discussions.
"We are now focused on the emergency order and the health-care system in our province."
Drost called Higgs's appearance at the news conference "so bizarre" and would not say whether he thought health-care locals would comply if they were legally ordered back to work.
"This has been so unusual, this round of bargaining. We've never seen anything like this, ever."
http://charlesotherpersonalitie.blogspot.com/
New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs leaves C.U.P.E News Conference in front of N.B. Legislature!!!!
Posted by Charles Leblanc at 6:39 pm No comments :
New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs speaks to C.U.P.E. Protesters in front of the New Brunswick Legislature!!!
Posted by Charles Leblanc at 6:37 pm No comments :
New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs shows up in person at C.U.P.E. News conference in front of the New Brunswick Legislature!!!!
Posted by Charles Leblanc at 6:36 pm No comments :
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/premier-cupe-meet-1.6237094
Meeting between Premier and CUPE leader ends, but both sides mum on outcome
No details released and no announcement made about whether meeting will resume Friday
Stephen Drost arrived at Chancery Place, where the Premier's office is located, a few minutes before 1 p.m. He and fellow CUPE officials left shortly before 9 p.m.
A government spokesperson confirmed the meeting was over but would not say if there was any result or if the meeting would resume Friday morning.
CUPE spokesperson Simon Ouellette also confirmed the discussions had ended but had no further comment.
The first of more than 20,000 CUPE members began walking off the job last Friday morning after contract negotiations with the province collapsed for the second time.
Higgs told reporters Thursday morning that he still hoped the union will bend on his push to add another CUPE local to the province's shared-risk pension plan.
"From the beginning there's been this 'I won't talk about it,'" he said. "I don't think any of us can go in with the attitude that we won't talk about it. That isn't the spirit of any meeting you'd have to try to resolve conflict."
He said he didn't expect the meeting with Drost to resolve the dispute, but it could determine whether negotiations can resume.
He added that he was prepared to talk to Drost for as long as it took.
"It's the priority, so for me it won't really matter what else is in the schedule."
The striking workers include jail guards, school custodians, court stenographers, and clerical and cleaning staff working for regional health authorities.
The locals have been without contracts for years. The court stenographers' last contract expired in 2016.
Another CUPE local representing N.B. Liquor store and warehouse workers is holding a strike vote this week.
Higgs has warned that he could use back-to-work legislation, including an imposed wage mandate, to end the dispute.
But he said he may also use the province's COVID-19 emergency order to force health-care workers back, given the impact of the strike on vaccination clinics, testing sites and hospital procedures.
"Something has to give. We can't let the health-care system be impacted."
While legislation would take several days of debate before it could be adopted, the emergency order can be invoked quickly by cabinet order.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/wage-mandate-cupe-meeting-higgs-1.6235718
Higgs to meet with CUPE Thursday as opposition to single 'wage mandate' heats up
Premier hopes to avoid back-to-work bill, nurses union issues warning of legal challenge if bill goes ahead
New Brunswick Nurses Union president Paula Doucet says her members won't accept a so-called wage mandate that Premier Blaine Higgs could use to end the strike.
And she would not rule out a legal challenge to such a law.
"We have some legal [people] here in our office that would definitely put their eyes to that," Doucet says.
Higgs repeated his warning Wednesday that if he uses back-to-work legislation to end the CUPE strike, it will include a wage mandate imposing uniform increases on those union locals and all other public-sector workers.
Doucet says that would be an insult to nurses who've been on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic since March 2020 and who have twice rejected tentative agreements on a new contract.
"Having something mandated to them now is another slap in the face," she said.
"Nurses are tired and frustrated and exhausted, and they're just really looking for some recognition here as well as better working conditions and fair compensation, and they're not getting that now."
Paula Doucet, the president of the New Brunswick Nurses Union, says a wage mandate would be an insult to nurses who've been on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic since March 2020. (Ed Hunter)
Premier 'optimistic' a deal can be reached
Higgs told reporters Wednesday morning he still hopes to avoid using legislation to end the dispute, which began last Friday.
"I'd like to remain optimistic that we will still be able to work out a negotiated settlement with CUPE, and the opportunity for us to get back to the table is real."
Not long afterward, CUPE New Brunswick spokesperson Simon Ouellette confirmed that union officials will meet government representatives Thursday at 1 p.m.
"I can confirm the premier has invited CUPE leadership to meet tomorrow at 1 p.m.," Higgs's spokesperson Nicolle Carlin said in a statement.
Ouellette said it's not clear whether it's a return to bargaining or just a meeting to discuss restarting negotiations.
Around 20,000 CUPE members in 10 locals began striking last Friday after a second breakdown in contract negotiations. The locals have been without contracts for years. One, representing court stenographers, saw its last agreement expire in 2016.
ANBL workers starting strike votes
CUPE announced Wednesday that another of its locals representing N.B. Liquor employees were starting strike votes that would run until Saturday.
Members of Local 963, who include employees of 41 liquor stores, ratified a contract last year, but Higgs blocked it because its wage increases were higher than his wage model for provincial workers.
Several hundred CUPE members and supporters returned to the legislature Wednesday after a larger protest Tuesday. For the second day, horns and noisemakers used by the crowd were picked up by the microphones and sound system in the chamber.
In question period, Opposition Liberal Leader Roger Melanson pressed Attorney-General Ted Flemming on a 2015 Supreme Court of Canada ruling that upheld the right to strike and set a high bar for governments using back-to-work legislation.
Flemming called it a "complex question" with "assorted variations" of court rulings on the issue but said any legislation would comply with the Constitution.
"If it is not justified in law, we won't do it," he said.
Wage mandate would have to be for all: Higgs
Higgs said applying a wage mandate to all bargaining groups, whether they have signed contracts now or not, would protect the bill from a legal challenge.
"It would be for all unions, because it wouldn't be fair [otherwise]. That's my understanding legally. … We have to do it for everyone."
That would involve about 58,000 provincial employees, about 80 per cent of whom are represented by unions, he said.
Higgs added that no union with a signed contract would see anything rolled back by a wage mandate. Any imposed package would be equal to or better than existing agreements.
"I would feel obligated to provide those same terms and conditions to those that have settled," the premier said.
Liberal Leader Roger Melanson said a back-to-work bill with a single wage mandate across the board is not the way to go. (Joe McDonald/CBC file photo)
Melanson said a back-to-work bill with a single wage mandate across the board is not the way to go.
"Each group has different issues that they want to deal with, so that's why you get to the negotiating table and you discuss them. Negotiation is not a monologue, it's a dialogue."
Green Leader David Coon said such a move would be "autocratic."
"It throws the whole notion of collective bargaining on its head, to be doing that by fiat, by legislated fiat. Not only is it unacceptable but I think it would be open to court challenges, no question."
Higgs said Wednesday that a second-quarter fiscal projection for the 2021-22 financial year foresees a budget surplus of $200 million to $300 million, a fact that opposition parties seized on to argue the province can afford to make CUPE a better offer.
The premier repeated that any contract has to be affordable for years to come, and it's not certain the province will have that much money to work with after this year.
The Liberals also continued needling Higgs about whether his PC caucus is united behind his approach to negotiations.
"There's a whole team of ministers and MLAs and we still don't know what they believe in this strike situation," Melanson said in question period. "What is his team actually doing to help him out?"
Higgs said that "more than most," he's been open to different views in his government, but "at the end of the day, the premier does what he believes is right with the collection of information he has received from his caucus."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Following Dutch Model, New Brunswick
Leads Canada's Pension Model Reforms
A new, risk-sharing pension design is taking off in Canada.
On May 31, 2012 David Alward stood before the Legislative Assembly of the Province of New Brunswick, Canada. As Premier, he was about to preside over an event unprecedented in the history of the province. It was the last day before the legislature’s summer recess and Alward, as host of the occasion, had invited representatives from all six New Brunswick labor unions onto the floor, along with members of both the Liberal and New Democratic opposition parties and a special task force he had appointed after his 2010 election. After more than a year of research, planning and negotiation, the unified group of labor and elected officials had an announcement to make. The subject du jour: pensions.
The events of May 2012 have only just begun to be felt across the province and beyond its borders. Whereas many private companies and public jurisdictions have previously turned to employer-based, individual retirement savings plans as a solution to their employees’ future income needs, the citizens, politicians, union members and pension officials in New Brunswick sought and enacted a solution to providing real pension benefits that would be economically sound under 21st century conditions. Now throughout Canada, and beyond its borders, pension stakeholders are starting to take note.
As the financial crisis of 2008 exploded, New Brunswick — which shares its western border with the U.S. State of Maine and its eastern border with the Atlantic Ocean — watched many of the public and private pension funds within its borders take a big hit. It soon became apparent that the usual Band Aid–type fixes, like increasing contributions into a plan, were not going to work this time.
Honoring his campaign promise to find an industrial strength fix for pension underfunding, in late October 2010 Alward appointed a three-member task force to solve the problem. In a particularly politic move, the premier tapped well-respected labor attorney Susan Rowland and longtime actuary Paul McCrossan, a member of Alward’s Progressive Conservative party, to spearhead the effort. Economics professor and public policy research expert Pierre-Marcel Desjardins rounded out the team. After more than a year of studying pension systems around the globe, and identifying the Dutch system as their number one model, the New Brunswick Pension Task Force announced the details of a new pension scheme that would be “more secure, transparent, sustainable, reliable, affordable and predictable” than either a defined benefit or defined contribution plan. It was named the Shared Risk Pension.
“Shared risk would fix most pension problems in North America,” asserts Rowland, chief of the pension task force. With the shared risk model, New Brunswick became the first jurisdiction in North America to develop comprehensive funding and risk management procedures in the administration of pensions, that cover both asset and liability management while addressing the challenges faced by pension schemes today and into the future, underlines the report entitled, “Rebuilding New Brunswick: The Case for Pension Reform.”
The new pension model sports the best features of the Dutch pension system: pooled assets that are professionally managed; strict and predictable funding requirements; and risk management processes not previously a part of New Brunswick’s defined benefit plans. Like the Dutch plan — and the Wisconsin Retirement System in the U.S. — the shared risk plan is designed to self-correct according to the performance of its investment portfolio. That means that cost of living adjustments are eliminated in favor of a system of either “dividends” or reductions that change in concert with the annual portfolio asset size fluctuations.
Alward began his quest for a better pension model after several forest and paper products companies, the biggest industry in New Brunswick, took a severe hit during the dip in the housing market brought on by the 2002 downturn and 2008 financial crisis. Companies like Fraser Papers (in 2010) and St. Anne-Nackawic Pulp Co. (in 2004) saw their pension promises go up in smoke as they entered bankruptcy. When pensioners had their monthly checks slashed by 30 to 40 percent, Canadians learned that a pension promise could be broken. Soon public pension deficits came to light as Moody’s Investor Services and Standard and Poor’s Rating Services downgraded New Brunswick’s credit rating in 2009 and 2010, respectively.
One of the keys to making the new pension scheme a reality was the cooperation between political parties, public government and labor unions. “We adopted a collaborative approach to get it done,” explains task force member McCrossan. “When we designed the pension plan, the whole province took part in it,” adds the actuary who came back from his 2006 retirement twice: once to help the International Monetary Fund grapple with global pension issues ahead of the impending crisis and then again in 2010 when Alward appointed him to the pension task force. “The fear factor went away when we showed them the information,” agrees Michael O’Brien, a Fredericton city councillor and former finance committee chair, speaking about his own work with the unions and retirees.
The City of Fredericton, home of the provincial government, has six separate pension funds, five of which initially chose to move to the new structure. Along with the pension of New Brunswick’s City of Saint John, the governance structure of the old plan has been entirely redesigned. In the City of Fredericton, the old defined benefit plan, which had been managed by the municipal government along with its other financial portfolios, is now, by law, the fiduciary responsibility of an independent board of eight trustees. The board members are an even split between council-appointees and union members.
“Six union presidents came together in July 2010,” explains Wade Kierstead, president of CUPE 3864, known formally as the Canadian Union of Public Employees’ Technical and Professional Union for the City of Fredericton. That was when the city’s pension fund first raised serious flags. The $200 million City of Fredericton pension fund was found to be $59 million underfunded. It is one of the smaller plans; the largest, the New Brunswick government employee fund, stands at $5 billion in assets. Kierstead and his fellow union leaders got their members behind the change. There are sacrifices on both sides, employee and employer. For example, both will increase their contributions and a higher retirement age will be phased in over a 40-year period. Like Dutch pensions, the plans must be overfunded, in this case at 115 percent, to meet new legal requirements. “Everybody takes a little cut,” explains Jane Blakely, director of strategic direction and consulting for the City of Fredericton.
To incorporate all the changes, the Canadian Pension Benefits Act had to be amended. So it was that on May 31, 2012, when the amendment was officially accepted, creating a Part 2 of the Act that made way for the new pension regime, that the entire legislature gave Alward, the union leaders, and the pension task force a well-deserved standing ovation for bringing about a change that protects the future retirement of the 47,000 public employees of the Province of New Brunswick.
Looking forward, there are now plans in the pipeline, following the change over to the new scheme for most New Brunswick pensions, to amalgamate most of the plans into one, $10 billion pension plan. Outside New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Kathy Dunderdale and Prince Edward Island Premier Robert Ghiz, are both studying the New Brunswick pension model.
For Canada, the development and adoption of a pension plan for the 21st century proves that it is possible for a disparate group of pension stakeholders — legislators, labor unions, employees, pensioners, and citizens — to work together to ensure a secure retirement for public servants.
https://www2.gnb.ca/content/gnb/en/news/news_release.2010.12.1849.html
News Release
Pension task force members named
07 December 2010FREDERICTON (CNB) – The three members of the Task Force on Protecting Pensions were named today by Justice and Consumer Affairs Minister Marie-Claude Blais.
The task force, which was announced on Oct. 28, will lead public consultations and examine the long-term stability and security of private pensions in New Brunswick.
The three members of the task force are Paul McCrossan, Susan Rowland and Pierre-Marcel Desjardins.
"Employees deserve to know that the pensions they have contributed to all their working lives will be there when they retire,” said Blais. “Retirees need to know the pension they count on will continue to support them throughout retirement. That is why I am pleased we have been able to assemble such a qualified team of experts to undertake this important review."
Among the issues that the task force will examine are:
● rules protecting employees and pensioners;
● ensuring that the long-term sustainability of pension promises made to workers is honoured and protected; and
● reviewing the structure meant to protect pension plans to insure they are as effective as possible.
"Our goal at the end of the review is to ensure New Brunswick has the rules and regulations in place that are needed to offer our residents the best protection possible for their hard-earned pension savings," said Blais.
The task force brings extensive experience in the field of private pension administration and pension restructuring. The panel will report back to government with their findings and recommendations.
Biographies of task force members
Throughout his career as a consultant and actuary, McCrossan has held various positions with the Canadian Institute of Actuaries, the Society of Actuaries and the International Actuarial Association. He has written and lectured extensively on the topic of finances and pensions. Serving twice as a Member of Parliament, he was involved in the reform of a number of key pieces of pension-related legislation, including the Pension Benefits Standards Act and the Canada Pension Plan Act.
Susan Rowland
A graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School, Rowland has focused her career on pension and benefits law, with particular expertise in the restructuring and funding of pension plans. Appointed as representative counsel by the Superintendent of Financial institutions for Ontario, she has assisted in resolving the under-funding of several high-profile pension plans, including: Algoma Steel, Ivaco Inc., General Motors of Canada and Chrysler Inc. Rowland has published numerous papers in professional journals and has been frequently invited to speak before groups interested in pension and insolvency issues.
Pierre-Marcel Desjardins
Desjardins has a Ph.D. in economics and has been teaching economics at the Université de Moncton since 1990. He is also researcher at that Canadian Institute for Research on Public Policy and Public Administration. He is vice-president of the Fédération des caisses populaires acadiennes, the executive director of the Canadian Regional Science Association, a member of the board of directors of the Caisse populaire Kent-Sud, and a member of the advisory committee for the Sainte-Marie-de-Kent local service district.
Paul Harpelle, communications, Department of Justice and Consumer Affairs, 506-453-6543, paul.harpelle@gnb.ca.
