Steve Drost: Higgs’ back-to-work order is “a tool to threaten workers”

After years of fruitless negotiations and months after CUPE’s 100-day ultimatum to Premier Higgs, CUPE New Brunswick members went on strike across the province on Oct. 29. The NB Media Co-op interviewed CUPE NB President Steve Drost on Nov. 6, the day after the Higgs government imposed a back-to-work order on workers in healthcare and the healthcare supply chain.

NB Media Co-op: It’s being said that the Premier dislikes CUPE because it’s the one organization in the province that can stand up to him. Do you agree?

Steve Drost: Yes, and it’s pretty evident with the order that they used last night. Workers have finally been backed into a corner and have no choice but to stand up for themselves. And so, the government introduces this back to work legislation underneath the state of emergency that interferes with these workers’ rights for free collective bargaining, their rights to strike. And this order comes along with huge, excessive, fines. It’s a tool to threaten. And why? Because these workers have decided that they’re going to stand up for themselves and demand to be treated fairly.

NB Media Co-op: CUPE 1252 President Norma Robinson said today that 70 per cent of her hospital workers were designated essential, meaning they were working during the strike. After the back to work order came into effect, some of her non-designated members showed up for work at the Campbellton hospital this morning but management told them they were still on strike and to go home. What do you make of this?

Steve Drost: The government created a lot of confusion and anxiety for these members who were already very tired, having worked through the pandemic, and then to be treated so poorly. The members were really frustrated. But this situation also calls into the question the need even to have this emergency order. We think it’s totally bogus.

“We think that this order is ridiculous. Both the authors–Blaine Higgs and Ted Flemming–are using this order to interfere with these workers’ legal rights in bargaining and legal rights to strike.”

NB Media Co-op: CUPE 1251 President Chris Curran said today that hospitals were sending their laundry to Ottawa to be processed during the strike. When his members returned to the laundry this morning to comply with the order, there was not a backlog of laundry. Curran believes this order is not about COVID but rather about taking away workers’ rights. Do you also believe this?

Steve Drost: Yes, we fully believe that. I certainly do. Offers were made by Norma’s group CUPE 1252, the hospital workers, they had a group of people that do environmental services prepared to go in every so many days to make sure things were okay. When some of the workers did go in, the ones they allowed to come in, some of the facilities weren’t as bad off as they were saying, or some of them, there were no issues at all. And already the CEOs [of the health authorities] are saying, within one day, ‘things are really improving.’

Another thing: the CEOs of the two health authorities claimed that X amount of elective surgeries had been canceled due to the CUPE strike. They seem to be blaming a lot on CUPE. In reality, these elective surgeries were canceled once the Premier put us back into a state of emergency. So, we think that this order is ridiculous. We think that both the authors–Mr. Blaine Higgs and Ted Flemming–are using this order to interfere with these workers’ legal rights in bargaining and legal rights to strike.

“Higgs tried to divide the workers, but the workers are getting stronger and stronger.  They are so fed up with the way that he and his government are treating them.”

NB Media Co-op: Please give us an update on the status of bargaining.

Steve Drost: We’re still waiting to hear back from the government. The Premier reported yesterday, when we had our media conference at the legislature, that he had made an offer. We never approved that offer. And we countered. And with our counteroffer, we also said that we would send all the workers back immediately until we could present the offer to the members and have them do a ratification vote. We have not heard one word back from the province on our counteroffer.

NB Media Co-op: Yesterday during the CUPE press conference outside the Legislature, you invited the Premier to come out and settle the deal. Higgs came out but that’s not what he did. What do you make of the Premier’s performance at your press conference?

Steve Drost: Well, the Premier has been trying so hard to mislead the public and mislead the workers. He used a lot of spin. He said that in his offer, there was going to be refunds or retroactive pay in the thousands of dollars. Well, these contracts haven’t been settled in four or five years, and that’s money owed for work already completed, so he’s not giving us anything there.

Higgs tried to divide the workers, but the workers are getting stronger and stronger, they are so fed up with the way that he and his government are treating them. And then, to abuse the legal process and bring in that order last night to force these workers back to work using the excuse that the health care system was in a shambles after a week of the strike! They haven’t invested properly in our health care system for 15 to 20 years of austerity. The health care system was at severe risk prior to the pandemic. And let’s not forget these workers worked all through the pandemic. The government continues to treat them by not showing them any dignity or respect and being unwilling to settle these contracts and holding the pensions of two groups over the heads of everybody.

“We have businesses and corporations in this province that could have generated an additional $200 million this year, if we had a fair royalty system. But the government doesn’t want to do that.”

NB Media Co-op: You’ve spoken and written about the Higgs’ austerity government. What do you mean by that?

Steve Drost: Austerity is something that’s false: governments create these major deficits. It’s just a manipulation of the finances. If they continue to reduce taxes, and give subsidies and major breaks to the corporations, and they don’t have a fair tax system, we’re always going to have shortfalls, because simply put, not everyone’s paying their fair share.

NB Media Co-op: At the media event today, you said that you and all the others in the central bargaining team know that the government is anti-union. How does being anti-union fit within austerity politics?

Steve Drost: Oh, it plays into it very much. It’s always you know, “the sky is falling, we can’t afford this, we can’t afford that, oh, my goodness, we can’t afford to pay our workers.” And it’s been 15 to 20 years of that. These locals had contracts a couple of [bargaining] rounds ago, where the wage mandate was zero, zero, two and two, which works out to 1% a year. Then, the following wage mandate was ones. Well, if the cost of living is averaging two, they’re going further and further behind every year. They have less buying power, and they have less money to spend in their local economies. It’s a downward spiral.

It’s really about choice. We have businesses and corporations in this province that could have generated an additional $200 million this year, if we had a fair royalty system. But the government doesn’t want to do that. If you look at the tax assessments, most citizens’ taxes on their properties have gone up minimum 7 per cent. Yet, again, another major corporation in this in this province just built a headquarters. And it’s, “oh, we better only assess that at 75 per cent of the market value, so that we can help this billionaire company be competitive, be able to compete on the global market.” They use all of this language or whatever. It’s simple: we need everyone to pay their fair share of taxes. And that is not happening here in New Brunswick.

NB Media Co-op: Is there anything else you’d like to say about the current strike situation?

I just would like to see this province get back to normal. We’ve had such a tough time. My heart goes out to the men and women providing the public services who have worked all through this pandemic. They haven’t had fair wages in years and years. We need to find ways to support them, and to cherish and embrace them because they truly are the heroes. The way they’re being treated by Premier Higgs and this conservative government is really, really concerning. It’s no way to treat the citizens of your province. So, hopefully we can get a contract soon, put this behind us, and let these workers carrying on do doing what they want to do. And maybe they’ll have a little time to enjoy with their families as well.

Stephen Drost is the President of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) New Brunswick, the largest public sector union in the province. CUPE NB represents about 28,000 workers, of which 22,000 are currently in a legal strike position.

Susan O’Donnell writes for the NB Media Co-op.

Access all of NB Media Co-op’s coverage of the CUPE strike here.

Read all about the the events leading up to the strike here.