McNeil government backs off threat to withdraw NSGEU offer

The McNeil government is no longer in a hurry to see its 7,600 civil servants vote on the deal the province reached with their union last month.

"There's no reason to worry about the timing. It's about getting it to the membership and having an agreement to do so," deputy premier Diana Whalen told reporters Thursday afternoon.

That's a significant change in tone from 24 hours ago when the government's top labour negotiator, Roland King, wrote to the union, threatening to withdraw the offer "if ratification is delayed, suspended or deferred."

King expected confirmation by 9 a.m. today that the vote would go ahead starting Monday.

Whalen has now suggested there's no deadline or threat to rescind the offer on the table.

"I think what's important is that we're trying be calm and take the second step, which is to allow more time for all of the partners to consider their options," she said.

"We're considering our options, but we know the best thing that could happen would be that the membership had the opportunity to vote on ... an agreement that was reached at the bargaining table in all good faith on both parties."

Union talking to members

Joan Jessome, president of the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union, said government has the power to impose a deal, but it's not clear if it will follow through.

"I wouldn't know that until legislation is tabled," she said, adding that the union is talking to its members and will go forward when it has direction from them. 

A teleconference is planned for this evening with the entire negotiating team at the NSGEU to determine what to do next.

Calling their bluff

Official Opposition leader Jamie Baillie was puzzled by the government's decision to threaten the union, then back down.

"I didn't understand what they were trying to accomplish," he said.

He said the government's "bluff" was called: "It weakens their position and leads Nova Scotians to wonder if they are making this up every day as they go along."

Interim NDP leader Maureen MacDonald saw the government's action as an attempt to intimidate its employees.

"This government are attempting to browbeat their own employees into submission rather than go back to the bargaining table and negotiate respectfully — something that should have happened right at the outset."

'No authority to say that'

The province's largest union had refused to give in to a demand by the Nova Scotia government to hold a ratification vote on a tentative agreement to freeze civil service wages.

​Civil servants were supposed to start voting next week, but the rejection of a similar deal by the Nova Scotia Teachers Union persuaded the NSGEU to put that vote off indefinitely.

The four-year deal freezes wages for two years, with a three per cent increase over the final two years.
Jessome said there is no law that forces any union to hold a ratification vote.

"They have no authority to say that," she said.