Casual Workers - CUPE New Brunswick

FALL 2009
Vol. 1 No. 2
Major Victory for
Casual Workers
By Rick MacMillan
Almost four years after legal
proceedings were launched in the New
Brunswick Court of Queen’s Bench, the
verdict came down: Casual workers in
this province have rights!
In late June, Madam Justice Paulette C.
Garnett ruled that casual workers in the
public sector have a right to collective
bargaining based on the Canadian
Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
CUPE has been instrumental in this
major victory for thousands of casual
workers in this province. For the past 25
years, we have been lobbying different
governments to fix this problem. Despite
our efforts, they all continued to treat
casuals as second-class workers. Finally,
the Court has ordered them to respect
the rights of casuals to collective
bargaining.
The PSLRA
In the late sixties, the Public Service
Labour Relations Act gave bargaining
rights, the right to strike and the right to
grievance procedures to workers in the
public sector. It also created a category
of workers that were excluded from all
those rights. They were called casuals.
Over the years, the government, as an
employer for hospitals, school boards
and Crown corporations, saw the
loopholes in the Act and started to use
more and more casuals in the workforce.
On any given day, you would have
thousands of people working as casuals
in different sectors. In a hospital, they
can clean your room, work as a Licensed
Practical Nurse (LPN), work in an office,
in a laboratory or at any job. In the
education system, they can be bus
drivers, custodians, clerical employees,
teacher assistants, etc. If you go to a
liquor store in New Brunswick, chances
are that a casual will be working at the
cash when you pay for your bottle of
wine, spirit or beer. They are everywhere
in government: in the parks, on the
roads, in the forests, and in offices.
Over the last two decades, government
departments and agencies have used the
PSLRA definition of “employee” to deny
casual workers any rights under
collective agreements. The most
common method was to lay off casual
workers just before they reached their
six-month mark, so they could never
become “employees” under the PSLRA,
and therefore had no rights under that
Act or the collective agreement. By
using the definition in this way, the
government turns what is really full-time
and long-term employment into “casual
or temporary employment”. As a result,
the government gets the benefit of
experienced, skilled employees without
having to provide the benefits they
would receive as “employees”.
No such restriction exists in the
Industrial Relations Act (IRA), which
covers employees in municipalities,
nursing homes and workplaces outside
the provincial public service. Employers
and unions under the IRA are free to
bargain working conditions for casuals in
those workplaces.
CUPE filed a complaint against the
government before the United Nations
International Labour Organization (ILO).
In 2001, the ILO declared the New
Brunswick exclusion of casuals to be a
violation of portions of the Universal
Declaration of Rights and Freedoms, of
which Canada was a signatory as part of
the United Nations. However, the ILO did
not have the power to force the
government of New Brunswick to
change the law.
A Long Haul
politics rather than seniority and ability.
In fact, they could not even file a
grievance alleging unfair treatment,
since in almost every case the
government claimed that only
“employees” could file grievances.
In her decision, Madam Justice Garnett
stated: “For many years, the Province as
employer has subjected “casuals” to
practices which can only be described as
unfair. As a result, I find that this is one
of those situations in which the Charter
imposes a positive obligation on
government to extend protective
legislation to unprotected groups.”
She goes on to say that: “More
specifically, I find that the exclusion of
“casuals” from the protection of the
PSLRA has had the effect of infringing
their rights under s. 2(d) of the Charter.”
Casuals formed a “vulnerable group”,
the judge said, and the government had
used the loopholes against casuals and
unions to create a subgroup of
employees. Casuals are also vulnerable
to reprisals because the employer has an
unhampered ability to determine
working conditions. Their working
conditions are always less advantageous
than those of “employees” and, as
described in some of the affidavits
before the Court, these conditions can
continue for years. Casuals have lower
status simply because they are
casuals and are often prevented
from achieving advancement.
This practice has penalized mostly
women. In the hospital sector alone,
over 77% of casuals are women.
The Future
This latest ruling gives the right to
bargain working conditions for casuals.
In July, the government announced it
would comply with the judge's decision.
The government has one year to make
the legislative changes to the PSLRA.
Meetings are scheduled this fall with
government officials to discuss how to
bring the PSLRA in line with the Charter
and to discuss issues of concern to
casuals being included in the upcoming
rounds of bargaining by public sector
unions.
The complete ruling is available online
at nb.cupe.ca.
Inside
CUPE for Public Services . . . . . . . .2
The Minister Is Backtracking . . . . .3
The Impact of the Budget . . . . . . . .4
Labour Solidarity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Pay Equity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Court Social Workers must
be reinstated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
Common Front for Social
Justice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
www.nb.cupe.ca
CUPE spent months gathering
information and testimonies from
casual workers who have been
working for the government for years
without getting any rights such as wage
parity, benefits and pensions.
Those testimonies presented before the
New Brunswick Court of Queen’s Bench
showed that many casual workers
worked for years, but because of the
loopholes used by the government, they
never gained “employee” status, and
consequently had no benefits or
seniority rights and their hiring and
advancement was often subject to local
THE SIGNAL
1
CUPE Stands Strong for
Public Services
By Daniel Légère
In late June, as most of us were looking
forward to our summer vacation, Premier
Shawn Graham announced a major
cabinet shuffle.
Important cabinet ministers, such as
Finance Minister Victor Boudreau, have
been given less important portfolios.
Playing musical chairs with those
ministers is an attempt for the
government to diffuse the tension.
Unfortunately, those changes won’t undo
the harm done by the government to the
public sector services and the workers of
this province.
Over the summer months, CUPE
members have been every week at
Liberal MLA offices and held information
pickets in communities throughout the
province. The first edition of The Signal
has been distributed widely across the
province.
We were present at events where
Premier Graham and cabinet ministers
have attended delivering our message
using radio and the print media.
Everywhere we went, New Brunswickers
told us that our elected officials are
simply making wrong choices. An
opinion poll published in late June also
reflects the dissatisfaction and the
discontent we hear from people
across the province.
CUPE Local 2745 had a partial
victory for our education system :
the government took some funds
from the $5 million Initiative
Learning Fund for the Educational
Support workers. This shifting of
money will not reverse the level of cuts
that so many New Brunswick parents
and grandparents came out to oppose.
Pride
Parade
CUPE activists walked down Main
Street in downtown Moncton this
summer as a part of the city's Pride
Parade. This year marked the 10th
anniversary of this celebration for the
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and
transvestite community in the Moncton
area. CUPE National Pink Triangle
Committee member for New Brunswick,
Mike Connors said CUPE’s participation
at the parade sends a clear message
that being from the LGBTTI community
is okay. He hopes even more members
will participate at next year’s Pride
Parade.
2
THE SIGNAL
While tax cuts reduce government’s
ability to deliver public services, long
term P3 agreements also reduce public
services by committing our province to
huge rent payments for 20, 25 or 30
years, monies that cannot be used to
deliver public services to New
Brunswickers.
CUPE NB is committed to keeping our
message about the importance of public
services on the front burner.
This fall, we must put our minds to the
other significant threats facing all public
sector and private sector workers in
New Brunswick. The Liberal
government’s fiscal policy takes away
our right to free collective bargaining.
The cornerstone of any union should be
the right to sit down and bargain a
collective agreement for their members.
It is our right to negotiate the length, the
wages and the benefits for our members
at the bargaining table. This is a right
that CUPE will fight to defend.
We have negotiated in difficult
economic times before, and the final
deal reflected the economic reality. But
the terms and conditions were agreed
upon, not dictated.
Early Budget
The Government's decision to present an
early budget is rather foreboding.
Finance Minister Greg Byrne justified his
decision to present a budget in
December by the “challenges still
ahead”. The Government seems to be
more determined than ever to push
forward its tax reduction agenda.
CUPE members across the province
made some presentation during the socalled public consultation process. Our
members stressed the importance of
having a budget that will enhance and
improve on the public services provided
to the citizens of this province.
We insisted on the need for government
to reverse the tax cuts that were
implemented with the last budget. These
changes were never mentioned in The
Charter for Change: Shawn Graham’s
plan for a better New Brunswick that
was used to get elected more than three
years ago. They are also contrary to the
Equal Opportunity Program that was
introduced by the Louis Robichaud
government.
Our members want to be able to
continue to provide the best possible
services for the citizens of this province.
In order to accomplish this, we need this
government to abandon the direction
that was taken in the budget tabled in
the spring of this year.
New Brunswickers need their
government to provide fair and equitable
services. By losing revenues, it will be
impossible to provide those services.
As fall sets in, we must be diligent in our
efforts to have government respect the
free collective bargaining process and
continue our pressure to have public
services protected in New Brunswick.
CUPE NB is holding regional action
committee meetings throughout the
province. It is very important that you
come out and learn what is really at
stake.
The
Signal
CUPE NB quarterly publication
Address all correspondence to:
CUPE
Communications
91 Woodside Lane
Fredericton, N.B. E3C 0C5
For more information visit CUPE
NB website at nb.cupe.ca or
contact us at [email protected]
Rehab Centre Stays
Public
After months of juggling with the idea of privatizing the provincial rehabilitation centre
for injured workers, WorkSafe NB finally decided to keep the centre public.
For months, the workers of this province have been lobbying to keep the Rehabilitation
Centre – the only centre in Eastern Canada exclusively for injured workers'
rehabilitation – public.
Even though the centre will not be privatized, we must remain vigilant. WorkSafe NB
could contract out some services like they plan to do with the pool".
The New Brunswick Federation of Labour is also calling for an inquiry into the
governance of the Corporate Board of WorkSafe NB.
The
Minister Backtracks
By Sandy Harding
When the Graham government
announced its budget last March, we
could not imagine the impact a two-line
reference would have on the public
services offered by the Education Support
staff in the province's schools. The
Finance Minister indicated in his budget
speech that: “As well, funding will be
reduced for support to school libraries and
school intervention services”. These
simple words meant that many school
libraries would close or have significantly
reduced hours of operation.
This government had targeted the
Educational Support Staff, School Library
Assistants and School Intervention
Workers by reducing the funding for those
services by 50%, the equivalent of $2.9
million.
The targeted reduction in services,
spearheaded by Education Minister Kelly
Lamrock, meant that Educational Support
Staff took the brunt of cuts in school
districts as they wrestled with the
targeted cuts and the underfunding. We
quickly realized that those budget cuts
would have a devastating effect on our
members. At the end of the school year,
588 Educational Support Staff across the
province received their layoff notice.
CUPE Local 2745, which represents the
Education Support Staff, took the
unprecedented step of launching a “Lay
Off Lamrock” campaign. CUPE 2745
members knew it was crucial to inform
the parents and the public of the real
meaning of those cuts.
Many schools would be without the
service of a School Intervention Worker or
have to share a worker with several
schools, which meant that students in
crisis and students needing help with
behavioural, social or emotional
difficulties would no longer have that
service when they need it. In addition, a
reduction in Teacher Assistant positions
meant many students with special needs
would not have the help they need, more
importantly the help they deserve, in an
inclusive education system.
Members of CUPE 2745 took their
message to the streets, set up information
pickets, had rallies and demonstrations
and went door to door distributing the
message of the impacts these cuts would
have on the students, their families and
the staff. New Brunswickers rallied behind
the support staff and sent a clear
message: They did not want a reduction in
the level of services for students.
Thousands of postcards were signed and
returned, as well as letters sent to MLAs,
the Premier and news editors asking the
government to maintain the level of
services by reversing these cuts,
supporting the Educational Support Staff
in their struggle and recognizing the
important and valuable work they provide
in the education system and to students.
Cabinet Shuffle
Premier Shawn Graham announced a
major cabinet shuffle days after the
session ended. In that shuffle, Education
Minister Kelly Lamrock was moved to
another portfolio and was replaced by
Roland Haché.
Shortly after his appointment, Minister
Haché implied that the cuts to the
Education Support Staff would be
reversed with the official announcement
out on July 9th.
We have been in the long and delicate
process of ensuring that our members go
back to work and that services are
returned to their previous levels. This
announcement does not mean that all 588
Education Support Staff who were laid off
would be back to work in the fall.
It has become obvious that many districts
cut far deeper than the reduction they
suffered from the $2.9 million in cuts to
Library Services and School Intervention
Workers. We believe that the way the
Graham government, and especially former
Education Minister Kelly Lamrock, targeted
the reductions on the backs of Educational
Support Staff paved the way for the
districts to cut even deeper in that area.
Educational Support Staff are currently
distributing a petition to return the level
of support services to schools. We have
had tremendously positive comments and
support from the public on this initiative.
We have received thousands of
signatures to date. When we are out
talking to the public asking them to sign
our petition, people literally line up to
sign in support of returning the services.
New Brunswickers understand that this is
not only about jobs, it’s about services.
They understand that there is something
very wrong when the government cuts
taxes for the wealthiest New
Brunswickers and then does not have
enough money to fund education.
Over the summer, CUPE 2745 members
have been all over the province keeping
the issue of funding to the education
system at the forefront. We received
incredible support because we all realize
how important it is to maintain our public
services!
To sign the online petition visit:
2745.cupe.ca
CUPE
NB Logo
Contest
CUPE NB is launching a contest for
a new logo. We are looking for
talented members to create a logo
promoting what CUPE NB is all
about.
Contest details:
• The contest starts right now!
• Bilingual
• Submissions will be taken via
mail, email or fax
• Multiple submissions per
participant are allowed.
• Include your name, local number
and contact information
• The logo has to be clear and
easy to understand
Deadline for submissions is
December 1st, 2009. The winning
entry will receive an escape
weekend package in Fredericton.
We look forward to your entries!
Send your artwork to:
CUPE New Brunswick
17 Queensway
St. Stephen, NB E3L 1L1
Fax: (506) 466-3838
Email: [email protected]
THE SIGNAL
3
Budget
Impact
on
Municipalities
By Raymond Léger
The main feature of the budget presented
by the Minister of Finance for this fiscal
year is the government’s tax cut program.
Not only does the cutting of taxes
translate into lost revenues for the
province but then the government turns
around and cuts programs and services.
One hundred and sixteen programs have
seen their budgets slashed from the
amount they received in last year’s budget.
These program cuts total $63.2 million.
We can clearly see that these cuts in
programs and services are directly linked
to the tax cuts—a total of $67.4 million in
lost revenue with this budget.
These tax cuts will have major
repercussions on municipalities and the
province. The Government of New
Brunswick has estimated that these
changes will reduce the revenues of the
province by $257.9 million in 2010-2011
and by $325.3 million in 2011-2012.
These cuts will have a devastating impact
on the services, the jobs, and the future of
New Brunswick. A number of services will
have to be eliminated because the money
to pay for these service will be drastically
reduced. All these service cuts are mainly
caused by the reduction of the tax level for
individuals and corporations.
In addition, the Minister of Finance
announced the following in the budget
speech: “To help address the issue and
make property tax revenue increases more
transparent, this budget introduces a
mechanism to improve the accountability
to taxpayers for both provincial and
municipal property taxes.” It means that
both the municipalities and the provincial
government will not get the increases they
were getting when the values of
properties were increasing. If they want to
benefit from such increases, they will
have to vote to increase the level of
taxation for properties.
This would not be very popular with many
municipal councils or the provincial
government. If the provincial government
does not vote to increase their level of
taxation for property taxes, it will have an
impact on the unconditional grants going
to municipalities. Already the amount was
frozen to $67,939,000 when you do a
comparison to last year’s budget. The
amount of unconditional grants going to
municipalities has been going down for a
number of years. In 1990-1991, it was
$103,635,882 for a difference of
$35,696,882 when you compare to 20092010. Also, in 1990-1991, the
unconditional grants represented 53.6% of
property taxes collected by the provincial
government, and in 2007-2008 it was only
19%. At the same time, the property taxes
collected by the provincial government
went from $193,212,685 in 1990-1991 to
$358,291,600 in 2007-2008 for the same
period.
The estimated loss in provincial revenues
in the coming years will have a big impact
on the amount spent by the province on
municipal infrastructures. Right now the
provincial government has a number of
agreements with the federal government
to cost-share municipal infrastructures.
When those agreements expire because
of loss of revenues, it will be difficult for
the provincial government to re-invest in
these programs. As of August 20, 2009,
forty municipalities have benefitted from
these subsidies.
Hearing Postponed
The New Brunswick Labour and
Employment Board will not hear the
complaint filed by the New Brunswick
Council of Nursing Home Unions
(NBCNHU) until next January.
The hearing scheduled for October 14 and
15, 2009 has been postponed after the
Board received approximately 20 requests
from nursing home administrators asking
for more information on the hearing.
This spring, the NBCNHU filed a
complaint to the Board after the New
Brunswick Nursing Home Association
refused to honour a 4-year collective
agreement ratified by the workers.
“We are asking the Board to enforce the
4
THE SIGNAL
4-year collective agreement we ratified
before the provincial budget,” explained
Valerie Black, President of the NBCNHU.
“We had an agreement and the
government decided to impose a 6-year
contract to our members with a two-year
wage freeze despite a signed letter from
the Minister of Human Resources, Rick
Brewer, stating that all agreements
signed prior to the budget would be
honoured.”
All summer long, nursing home workers
reminded Liberal MLAs that a deal is a
deal.
Solidarity
More
Than Ever
by Michel Boudreau
The New Brunswick Federation of
Labour (NBFL) was founded in
September 1913, making it the third
provincial federation established in
Canada after Alberta and British
Columbia.
For the past 96 years, the NBFL has
been the central voice of the labour
movement in New Brunswick affairs.
This definition is in the broadest
sense, but we have quite specific
roles to play:
• Promote the interest of our
affiliates and generally increase
social and economic aid to workers
in New Brunswick.
• Help organize non-unionized
workers into affiliated unions for
mutual aid, to protect their
interests and to increase prospects
for advancement.
• Obtain suitable provincial
legislation to safeguard their rights
and encourage the principle of free
collective bargaining, the rights of
workers and the safety and welfare
of all.
• Protect and strengthen our
democratic institutions, obtain full
recognition and enjoyment of the
prerogatives and freedoms that are
our rights; preserve and perpetuate
the cherished traditions of our
democracy.
• Promote the cause of peace and
freedom in the world, assist and
cooperate with free, democratic
labour movements throughout the
world.
concerns with repercussions on
workers from a whole range of
workplaces – everywhere, from mines,
fish processing plants, bakeries and
paper mills to hotels, hospitals,
nursing homes, warehouses and
government offices.
More concretely, we are very active in
various coalitions such as the
Common Front for Social Justice, the
Coalition for Pay Equity, the Child Care
Coalition, the Healthcare Coalition and
the New Brunswick Coalition for
Seniors and Nursing Homes
Residents' rights. We are also on the
executive of the New Democratic
Party of New Brunswick.
Labour solidarity is an integral part of
the NBFL. We are always there to help
our affiliates. We are with the
Communications, Energy and
Paperworkers’ fight to save forest
sector jobs; with the United Food and
Commercial Workers in their fight to
protect jobs at Nadeau and in the very
long conflict at the Château Bathurst;
with the Public Service Alliance of
Canada in their campaign to protect
public jobs and the recent strike at
Canada Post; with the Canadian Union
of Postal Workers in their campaign
against the deregulation of public
postal service in Canada; and of
course with the Canadian Union of
Public Employees in their many
campaigns to protect public sector
jobs and preserve free collective
bargaining.
Numerically, your Federation of Labour
represents 40,000 members in 21
different unions, 255 locals and 7
regional labour councils in Bathurst,
Restigouche, Edmundston,
Fredericton, Miramichi, Moncton and
Saint John. Practically all the public
and industrial sector unions with
members in the province have locals
affiliated with the Federation. We
bring together unions active in the
forest, mining, manufacturing, public,
processing, transportation, energy,
communications and services sectors.
At our last convention in Saint John,
held from May 31 to June 3, 2009, the
delegates present voted in favour of
several resolutions that will become
part of NBFL policies. The resolutions
dealt with numerous subjects,
including public-private partnerships,
free collective bargaining,
employment insurance, public
services, violence against women,
healthcare, anti-scab legislation,
arbitration of a first collective
agreement, etc. In the next months,
your Federation, with the help of all its
affiliates, will work hard to carry out
these resolutions.
This strength in numbers and
diversification means that the NBFL
has to deal with problems and
In closing, it is important to remember
that an organization is only as strong
as its members.
Pay Equity: Partial Victory
By Marilyn MacCormack
Last May, the Liberals finally fulfilled
their campaign promise and legislated
pay equity for the entire public sector.
The new Pay Equity Act covers the civil
service, health, education and Crown
corporations, and will come into effect in
April 2010.
It took the individuals, unions and
organizations forming the NB Coalition
for Pay Equity 10 years of lobbying to
finally have the Pay Equity Act for civil
servants of 1989 revamped. The
regulations have yet to be adopted to
determine such important elements as
the timeline for completing the pay
equity adjustments and the process to
maintain pay equity over time.
equity legislation in the private sector,
as well as ensuring that the new law in
place for the public sector meets its
objectives.
It will also follow the evolution of
specific pay equity initiatives. For
instance, the government has committed
to financially assist five private-sector
groups in achieving pay equity, starting
in 2010-11. The five employment
categories are: child care workers, home
support workers, nursing home workers,
transition home workers and community
residence workers.
We know that obtaining a law for the
private sector will be even harder.
However, all workers are entitled to pay
equity, it is a human right! We need a
commitment to adopt pay equity
legislation for all the private sector, not
only for the public sector.
This is a step forward but details are still
needed about the job evaluation process
undertaken for the five target groups and
about the time over which the
adjustments will take place. These
details can make a big difference in
women’s lives. Which male jobs will
theirs be compared to? Will the
adjustments be made over one, two or
five years?
In 2010, the Coalition’s work will
continue to focus on the necessity of pay
Some of these workers have been
underpaid for years considering the
required level of responsibilities,
qualifications, efforts and working
conditions, and the full adjustments
should be completed as soon as
possible.
These categories represent a significant
number of predominately female
workers, and could potentially improve
these women’s economic situation if a
pay adjustment is put into effect.
By sharing information and tools with
those working in predominantly female
jobs, we are empowering women to
continue to strive for the New Brunswick
that we collectively envision; a province
where the work done by women and
men in predominately female jobs is
recognized for its real value and
therefore remunerated equitably.
The NB Coalition for Pay Equity is a
group of over 600 individuals and 76
organizations actively advocating for pay
equity legislation in both the public and
private sectors.
For more information about the NBCPE,
visit its website at
www.equite-equity.com.
Marilyn MacCormack is a member of CUPE
Local 2745, and the new chairperson of the
New Brunswick Coalition for Pay Equity.
A lot of the Coalition’s work is done
through its regional committees. Do
you want to participate actively in the
movement for pay equity? Join one –
or set one up if there is none in your
region! For information, contact the
Executive Director, Johanne Perron, at
855-0002.
The Coalition will be offering free
presentations and workshops across
the province throughout the year to
come. It is also organizing a tour of
the play “We don’t work for peanuts”
in French in the fall and in English in
the winter. For information on these
and other upcoming events, visit the
Coalition’s website!
Money Before Our
From the ballot box
By Delalene Harris Foran
Close to 200 CUPE activists from the
Atlantic Provinces came together last
June in Moncton for the second
Political Action Conference of the
Maritime and Atlantic regions.
Kids’ Safety
It seems that children's safety is no
more a priority for the new Education
Minister than it was for his predecessor.
This summer, Education Minister Roland
Haché gave the government's official
response to the recommendations of the
coroner's inquest into the Bathurst High
accident.
Despite our representation, two
recommendations that concerned CUPE
Local 1253 the most will not be
implemented.
The Department of Education is refusing
to use Class 2B drivers and school buses
for extra-curricular trips. We feel that
the community should not be responsible
for transporting students on extracurricular trips. The safety of our
children should not be left to volunteers
or overworked teachers.
The priority should be the safety of kids,
not a budgetary consideration. It is
evident that money is an issue here, and
it shouldn't be.
We feel that our drivers are the most
qualified and the most experienced.
Instead of the seven hours of training
that will be given to volunteers, we
receive 40 hours plus on-bus training.
We need to have medical, driving and
first aid tests every two years, plus
refresher courses.
The Department of Education's response
means that the current policies would
continue to be implemented, with some
minor changes such as providing overnight
contingency kits and information binders.
The school bus drivers' union finds that
this is just more of the same, namely
funding cutbacks to public services.
We are very disappointed that the new
Minister did not reconsider the decision
made by his predecessor, Kelly Lamrock.
We urge the Minister to take a second
look into the issues of qualified bus
drivers driving school or multi-functional
activity buses considering the tragic
event involving the Boys in Red on
January 12, 2008.
to the lunch box
Delegates discussed the importance
for union members to get politically
active and share ideas and strategies
on how to get a government elected
that will put the needs of working
families first. The NDP’s major victory
in Nova Scotia added electricity to the
conference.
The Leader of the Federal NDP, Jack
Layton; Acadie-Bathurst MP, Yvon
Godin; and the New Brunswick NDP
Leader, Roger Duguay stressed the
importance of being politically active
to fight to preserve public services.
It was clear to delegates that there is
only one way to put workers’ issues
first and ensure that fundamental
rights such as free collective
bargaining are protected through
political action and ensuring a voice in
our respective legislatures.
Delegates also heard of the Solidarity
Pact signed between CUPE PEI, CUPE
NS and CUPE NFLD with CUPE NB in
response to the attack on the basic
right to free collective bargaining
being waged by the Graham
government.
Before leaving the conference, 25 per
cent of the participants lined up at the
NDP booth to renew or buy a
membership card.
Students should only be travelling by
school or multi-functional activity bus
driven by our paid professional drivers.
We don't know why they are continuing
to use volunteer drivers. It doesn't make
sense.
THE SIGNAL
5
Court Social Workers
must be reinstated
CUPE 1418, which represents social
workers in New Brunswick, is asking the
new Minister of Justice, Mike Murphy,
to re-instate the service of the court
social workers and make them part of
the team for Family Justice.
"In the last provincial budget, Finance
Minister Victor Boudreau announced the
elimination of the Mediation Services
that were offered by Social Workers in
the Family Court Division", explained
Denise LeBlanc, President of CUPE 1418,
Rehabilitation and Therapy Group.
"This mediation service has been in
existence for more than 30 years and
statistics show that it was being used to
the maximum. In 2006 and 2007, over
6000 clients were serviced per year. In
the Moncton region, when the
elimination of this program was
announced, the social workers had to
cancel approximately 400
appointments."
The question on budget day was 'Why
the government would abolish a program
that was being utilized every day, a
program that was helping families going
through the crisis of a separation,
divorce, and custody of children?'
The government makes the decision to
take apart that service while they had in
their hands the Report of the Task Force
on Access to Family Justice, which
recommends expanding and enhancing
the role of the Court social workers, not
to abolish the service.
The Task Force commissioned by the
government goes on to say that the court
social workers have an important role to
play in the issue of custody and access
of children. It also stresses how the
court system wasn’t using the court
social workers effectively.
It is no wonder the government didn’t
want to make this report public before
the budget speech and even waited a
few months after. Again, this
government is eliminating services that
has helped so many low income families
deal with separation, divorce and child
custody matters.
An arbitration is scheduled for January.
The Common Front for Social Justice
Needed More than Ever!
by Auréa Cormier and Ann Pohl
In 1997, several community groups and
union members came together and
created the New Brunswick Common
Front for Social Justice.
It was a period when the quality of life
and democratic values were being
challenged in this province. The Coalition
envisioned that New Brunswick could
and should be a province where there
was justice for all, more solidarity and
social policies that encourage people to
improve their social conditions.
Our priorities have been the same for the
past few years:
• to obtain an increase in social
assistance rates;
• to improve employment standards,
especially a hike in the minimum
wage;
• to demand provincial legislation on
pay equity;
• to demand improvements in
employment insurance programs.
Twelve years later, the Common Front for
Social Justice is more relevant than
ever. Our province is still in last place
when it comes to social assistance
payments to single persons. Those
people only receive $294 monthly, the
lowest rate in Canada. With the
minimum wage at $8.25 an hour, even if
you work 40 hours a week your paycheck
is only $330 a week. It is easy to
understand why homelessness, as well
as dependence on shelters, soup
kitchens and food banks, are rapidly
increasing in New Brunswick.
Poverty is obvious in our communities
with dilapidated houses, lack of
nutritious food, poor education outcomes
for children, unemployment,
underemployment, lack of literacy
6
THE SIGNAL
programs and inability to access public
services to help with these issues.
Weaknesses in our provincial social
assistance programs aggravate these
issues.
The present definition of a household
“economic unit” prevents social
assistance recipients from reducing
housing costs by sharing
accommodations. Single adults on social
assistance in New Brunswick are the
poorest in Canada. If a group of
individuals could share a dwelling unit,
this would mean that a larger proportion
of a recipient’s monthly cheque would be
available for food, clothing, telephone,
transportation, and other basic needs.
All of these are necessities for seeking
work, as well as just plain everyday
living. Single parents living in shared
accommodations would help their
children get their basic needs met,
including things that contribute to
student success in school and life.
In rural areas, living in poverty generally
includes poor housing conditions and no
education/retraining/work skills
programs. The rural poor generally have
poor access to public services. They
have serious problems with isolation due
to transportation costs. Transportation
issues also limit access to lower-cost
food outlets and early childhood
development opportunities. Isolation,
combined with lack of services in rural
areas, lead to increased mental health
problems, family violence, substance
abuse, and other wellness challenges.
In urban areas, the higher cost of rental
housing means that a higher proportion
of the monthly assistance cheque must
be allocated for shelter, leaving less for
other market basket essentials. There is
a growing number of hard-core poor in
urban areas who are homeless and
entirely dependent on shelters and soup
kitchens.
Present policies discourage the
transition from social assistance to paid
employment through unrealistically low
levels of allowable earned income while
on social assistance. Moreover, there
are inadequate social programs to help
assistance recipients gain skills needed
to work.
Poverty Summit
Last fall, the CFSJ organized its second
Poverty Summit under the theme Justice
before Charity. This spring, as a follow-
up to the conference, the Common Front
released a document entitled “Working
Together to Reduce Poverty in the
Province of New Brunswick”. This
document contained recommendations
related to a living wage, employment
insurance, pay equity, childcare, housing,
seniors, literacy, improvements to the
public school system, welfare rates,
social assistance policies and legal aid.
The document was endorsed by 17
organizations.
For more information about the Common
Front for Social Justice, visit their
website at www.frontnb.ca.
CUPE at the
Parade
Members of CUPE 1190, General Labour and Trades Group, were part of the
parade at St. Stephen’s Chocolate Festival this summer.
CUPE 1190 wanted to inform the citizens on the real cost of a public-private
partnership (P3) to complete the twinning of Route 1 from St. Stephen to Saint John.
Throughout the summer, members of 1190 organized outings to talk about the
importance of keeping infrastructures such as roads, schools and hospitals public.
The government already privatized hundreds of kilometers of highway in this
province. No matter what form it takes, privatization hurts jobs, services and
communities.