Stephen Drost, president of CUPE New Brunswick. (Photo: CUPE NB news conference)
CUPE New Brunswick members are sending a strong message to New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs.
The union announced results from their first rounds of strike votes on Tuesday afternoon, revealing the majority of workers are ready to strike.
The following are results from the three locals that have completed their strike votes:
· Local 1840 (NB Court Stenographers) – 96% in favour of a strike, 96% turnout out of 73 members
· Local 1866 (WorkSafe NB) – 83% in favour of a strike. 88% participation out of 138 members
· Local 5017 (NB Community Colleges) – 93 % in favour of a strike. 100% participation out of 89 members.
“Mr. Higgs, we hope you’re listening to this, and at the end of the day, we don’t’ want to be adversarial. We don’t want to be confrontational. We want to sit down like professionals and adults and work out a deal that is good for all parties,” said CUPE New Brunswick President Stephen Drost during a press conference in Moncton on Tuesday.
The results come over a week after the Higgs Government walked away from the table, forcing the hand of CUPE members.
“These workers have made it very clear, the last thing in the world they want to do is step away from their job, but they feel they have no choice they’ve been backed into a corner and if that’s what’s needed their prepared to do that,” said Drost.
A series of strike votes will continue over the coming weeks, with the majority of the CUPE members still yet to vote.
Employees represented by locals 1190, 1251, 1418,1253 and 2745 will vote on Friday and Saturday after the government-provided lists reportedly omitted many voters.
CUPE Local 1252, which represents nearly 10,000 members, will vote on Sept. 23, 24 and 25, followed by CUPE Local 5026. The final votes will be tallied by Oct.1
