Unions pan election silence on labour issues

NB Telegraph-Journal Money - As published on page C1/C2 on September 2, 2006

Unions pan election silence on labour issues

By Simon Cheung
Telegraph-Journal

Fredericton - New Brunswick's unions have heard what the Liberals and Conservatives have to say on labour issues in the provincial election campaign, and they're not thrilled with the response to their concerns.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees New Brunswick released a list of responses on Friday to a point-by-point labour-issues letter sent to the province's politcal parties.

The letters, sent Aug. 9, asked the parties to address eight issues: casual workers' rights; pay equity; childcare; expediting grievance and arbitration processes; first-contract arbitration; an independent review of the workplace health, safety and compensation committee; limiting the length of the collective bargaining processes; and establishing joint governance of the Public Service Superannuation Act that governs workers' pensions.

Daniel Légère, the president of CUPE NB, said the NDP offered the most favourable responses by setting timelines for the implementation of their proposals. Légère was less impressed with the answers from the Liberals and Conservatives.

"Their answers are vague and non-committal. On most of the issues, they promise to look into it," he said. "But they put down what their position was and that's what we were looking for."

CUPE NB, Légère said, will not be advising its members on which party to vote for when they go to the polls Sept. 18. Instead the union will mount an "issues-based" campaign to inform their members of the party platforms.

The most detailed Liberal and Conservative responses in the CUPE NB report regard pay equity and child care. On pay equity, the Conservatives said they have implemented a five-year plan, with the intention of achieving pay equity throughout the public sector by 2010. They add that they have undertaken a job-evaluation study to identify inequities among hospital workers, which is to be completed in 2007.

The Liberals pledged to expand the Pay Equity Act to all parts of the public service beginning with childcare and home-care providers, but did not offer further specifics.

On childcare, the Liberals added that they would double infant spaces in licensed daycare centres (a $720,000 per year investment) as well as improving wages and benefits for childcare workers. The Conservatives said they would maintain spending for childcare, which has topped $96 million since 2001.

"Labour will vote, and it will count," Légère said of the 90,000 workers in New Brunswick covered under a collective agreement. "They have to take labour seriously and the issues seriously."

"This will show our members where the parties stand on what's important to them. And they can question the candidates when they come knocking at the door."

Michel Boudreau, president of the New Brunswick Federation of Labour, said one of the federation's primary concerns is a public, independent review of the health, safety and compensation commission.

"We haven't had a public independent review for the last 25 years," he said. "We have a lot of people that have been refused (compensation). The appeals system has been really hard. We have people waiting three, four months to appeal."

Most provinces, he said, hold reviews every five to 10 years.

Boudreau said that Liberal leader Shawn Graham said in a meeting with the federation on Tuesday that he would push for one - a pledge echoed in the CUPE NB report.

For most issues, however, Boudreau said both the Liberals and Conservatives have been cagey about making commitments on labour issues. Many of their answers in the CUPE NB report involve further discussions or review.

"I don't know what that means, to discuss," Boudreau said, "because we've been discussing for the last four years."

Tom Mann, executive director of the New Brunswick Union of Public and Private Employees, said he expects labour issues to become more prominent after the Labour Day weekend,
"With a snap election like this one, the political parties have an edge over the electorate in being able to formulate in the electorate's minds what the issues are," he said.

Mann noted, however, that once interest in the election picks up, the public will find itself with more sway in what the parties talk about.

He said his union will release by Wednesday their assessment on four issues: child care; casual employee rights; public auto insurance and pension reform.

Mann said he is just receiving the parties' formal presentations now, but said the initial impressions are "nothing encouraging."

"There appears to be no commitment to do anything concrete on these issues," he said.