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Government may try to impose pattern on other unions based on settlements with health care and school support workers.
Halifax (20 Jan. 2010) - The Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union (NSGEU/NUPGE) is waiting for details on the province's tentative agreement with hospital workers outside the Halifax area and school support workers across the province to determine how difficult its own bargaining battles are likely to be later in the year.
Approximately 4,000 health care workers at 33 mainly rural hospitals settled early Monday after a brief two-hour strike. Another group of approximately 3,000 school support workers settled hours earlier.
Both agreements - with members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) - must be ratified before they take effect.
While details of the settlements have not been officially disclosed, NSGEU president Joan Jessome says she is disturbed by reports that the proposed deals may include some annual increases as low as 1%.
"The pattern will certainly be a problem," Jessome told the media. "But there's more to the bargaining table than the pattern."
Several dozen collective agreements covering approximately 25,000 workers represented by NSGEU are up for renewal this year.
Under the previous Conservative government, which held power in Nova Scotia for 10 years, group home workers endured a protracted 77-day strike. The province also attempted, unsuccessfully in 2001, to strip some 10,000 health care workers of the right to strike.
Jessome said the bargaining climate is more hopeful with the New Democratic Party now holding power for the first time in the province. But the nature of bargaining remains adversarial and NSGEU has not taken a softer line with the government just because of its party affiliation, she noted.
"Bargaining is its own beast," she said. "The people I represent, they're demands have not changed because there is a different government in place."
One hopeful sign is that bargaining will start in February, well before the end of March when existing contracts with the province expire. Normally talks don't start until later and continue well beyond the expiry date.
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The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is one of Canada's largest labour organizations with over 340,000 members. Our mission is to improve the lives of working families and to build a stronger Canada by ensuring our common wealth is used for the common good. NUPGE