New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs interrupted a Canadian Union of Public Employees press conference on Friday morning as efforts to end a weeklong strike by public sector workers appeared to be derailed.
CUPE officials presented a counter-proposal they made to the government overnight when the Prime Minister appeared at the press conference outside the Legislature in Fredericton.
He listened to CUPE New Brunswick President Stephen Drost for several minutes before the union offered him a microphone to address the crowd.
Higgs then laid out his position, engaging in back-and-forth debates with some of the union leaders and with the strikers in the crowd.
Finally, he asked for a more orderly question-and-answer format. At that point CUPE demanded that his microphone be returned and the Prime Minister left.
The dramatic and unconventional confrontation came just an hour after Higgs told the Legislature that CUPE promised, after a marathon meeting Thursday, to recommend a government offer to its members.
The first of more than 20,000 CUPE members began quitting his job last Friday morning after contract negotiations with the province failed for the second time.
The strikers include prison guards, school guards, teacher assistants, court reporters, and clerical and cleaning staff working for regional health authorities.
Higgs said Friday morning in Question Period that “we had a way forward when we left last night” that CUPE leaders promised to recommend to members. He was therefore disappointed to see health care workers continue to picket lines.
“We had an agreement last night,” he said. But he said there was a condition attached to healthcare workers returning to their jobs promptly.
NEW: Premier Higgs said there was a deal, a “way forward” with CUPE last night; he is disappointed to see the picketing continue this morning. The attorney general and the health minister are “considering our options at this stage,” a clear reference to the order to end the strike.
Higgs said Attorney General Ted Flemming and Health Minister Dorothy Shephard “are examining our options at this point,” a reference to the possibility of back-to-work legislation or the use of the emergency decree of the province to end the strike.
“We are in a pandemic,” Higgs said. “We will address the issues in our hospitals. … We will move forward to get healthcare workers back to work.
The government has scheduled a press conference at 2:30 p.m.
Drost told the open-air press conference that he sent the government a counter-proposal to Thursday night’s 4:03 am offer.
He said if the province agreed he was ready to fire union members to work on Friday morning, but no response came.
The first of several CUPE locals representing 20,000 workers left work on the morning of October 29.
Drost arrived for the meeting with Higgs at 1 p.m. on Thursday and left at 8:45 p.m.
The dispute has focused on pushing CUPE for pay increases, but Higgs insists the union also agree to transfer two of the union’s locals to the province’s shared risk pension plan.
This pension dispute was at the center of Higg’s impromptu debates with CUPE members during his surprise appearance at the press conference.
Higgs said during Question Period the province had received a response from CUPE, but would not say what it was.
But he said the union had raised “something more” that was not part of Thursday’s talks.
“We are now focusing on the emergency order and our province’s health care system.
Drost called Higgs’ appearance at the press conference “so bizarre” and did not say whether he thought the health care premises would comply if they were legally forced to return to work.
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