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Students, faculty and staff at the college refused to cross a picket line set up by striking workers.
St. John's (3 March 2010) - Politicians on the Burin Peninsula should take a lesson from their constituents in dealing with a strike by workers at the College of the North Atlantic, says the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Public and Private Employees (NAPE/NUPGE).
Students, faculty and staff at the college refused last week to cross a picket line set up by striking workers to protest management being brought in from other sites to do work belonging to persons with disabilities.
“The overwhelming display of support for the striking workers is a welcome reversal from the apathy displayed by their elected government representatives, ministers Clyde Jackman and Darin King," says NAPE president Carol Furlong.
“We’re not sure if they are afraid to speak up for their constituents or if they simply don’t care about them," she added.
"There is something wrong that workers who act as job coaches to persons with disabilities are being treated differently from over 20,000 other workers who bargained with government. Yet in the midst of such inequality and discrimination the silence from their MHAs is deafening. Both Minister Jackman and Minister King, the minister of education, get a failing grade on this test."
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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