Nursing home workers' push for binding arbitration falls flat in the legislature

A Liberal motion calling on the Higgs government to agree to binding arbitration with the union for nursing home workers has fallen flat, with no vote and no end in sight to the labour dispute.

Union officials walked away from talks on Wednesday, saying they wouldn't return to the bargaining table without an arbitrator present.

Union representatives brought a petition with about 5,000 signatures to the legislature Thursday, also calling for binding arbitration.

If it passed, the motion might not have forced the Progressive Conservative government to do anything but would have shown that a majority of MLAs opposed the government's stance.

A first amendment introduced by the Green Party would have urged the government fully fund any collective agreement resulting from the binding arbitration.

But the People's Alliance then introduced a sub-amendment to the Green Party clause that read: "...under terms and conditions acceptable to all negotiating parties and the province."

The Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents the nursing home workers, called the sub-amendment tabled by Kris Austin a betrayal.

"We thought that all three parties, the Liberals, the Greens, the People's Alliance were on the same page when it came to binding arbitration," said CUPE communications rep Simon Ouellette. "But as you can see, the People's Alliance flaked, they switched sides."

Ouellette said the sub-amendment made by Austin "neuters" the motion to the point where it's not a true binding arbitration.

"The message is clear, the People's Alliance is saying 'We're not siding with the workers, we're siding with the PCs.'"

Ouellette said the legislature ran out of time to take a vote, but that was because of Austin's motion and other "stall techniques" in earlier legislative business by the PCs.

"The Higgs government didn't want to put people as a priority so they consistently made sure that there would be no binding arbitration going forward."

He said the Progressive Conservatives lobbied the People's Alliance hard to get them to switch sides, and are using procedural elements to prevent workers from getting a deal and being heard.

"The Conservatives are mortified that if someone actually looks at what is going on in the nursing homes they'll realize that the workers are not angry for nothing."

Austin said he is disappointed in CUPE's reaction. He said his party has advocated for wage increases and fair working conditions for nursing home employees, but is trying to find a middle ground.

"It seems to me the management of CUPE is taking the bait from the Liberals," Austin said.

Austin said he feels the Liberals have lost credibility by tabling the motion calling for binding arbitration after they had 21 months to fix the labour dispute while in government.

"From day one we've been saying these workers should get a wage increase," Austin said, but under "reasonable conditions" that all parties can agree to.

He said his party isn't feeling any pressure from the government to side with them on this issue, and just wants the workers and the province to come to a wage increase agreement somewhere between what each is asking for.

"At some point they have to find some common ground."

The legislature won't vote on the motion until May.

Ouellette said the union received a call from its employer, the New Brunswick Association of Nursing Homes, late Thursday night asking that the two sides return to the negotiating table Friday morning.

The association is funded by the provincial government.

In the interim, the matter will appear before the Court of Appeals on April 17.  The court will hear a case about whether a lower court judge wrongly denied the province's request for an order effectively preventing the workers at 46 nursing homes from striking.