Higgs says CUPE health-care workers could continue strike with Public Health go-ahead

Premier Blaine Higgs says he could end the back-to-work emergency order and let unionized health-care workers return to picket lines when there's enough improvement in the province's hospitals to make it safe.

Higgs made the comments to reporters after the Opposition Liberals questioned whether he plans to keep the emergency order in place in perpetuity, even after COVID-19 hospitalizations fall below the threshold for lifting restrictions.

"If the CEOs [of the two regional health authorities] and Public Health were to say, 'Okay, we're good to go,' then we'd be in a situation where we could say, 'Okay, we don't need to maintain this regulation about back to work," he told reporters.

"Workers could go back on strike if they chose to do so. I would like to think that during this time frame that they will have a chance to vote on the offer that's on the table, and all of this would be unnecessary."

Use of emergency powers

Last Friday the province used the same emergency powers to order striking hospital workers back on the job. Most of them are members of the 9,000-strong Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 1252. 

The province declared a new COVID-19 state of emergency on Sept. 24 under the provincial Emergency Measures Act and issued a new mandatory order on masks and other measures.

At the time they said that order would be lifted when fewer than 10 New Brunswickers were hospitalized for COVID-19. 

Hospitalizations peaked at 68 on Oct. 13 and have been trending downward since then. On Tuesday there were 16.

That trend prompted the Liberal Opposition to ask Tuesday what will happen to the order applying to health workers if that number dips below 10.

"Premier, are you going to have a state of emergency forever, as long as you're premier?" Liberal Leader Roger Melanson asked during question period.

Justice and Public Safety Minister Ted Flemming pointed out that the back-to-work order is separate from the COVID-19 restrictions order.

But Higgs acknowledged to reporters that it is linked to the pandemic.

"It is a separate document, but it is allowable because of the province being under an emergency order, so the two are tied in that sense, because it is health and safety." 

At first he refused to answer questions about what will happen when hospitalizations dip below 10, calling them hypothetical.

He then said he wouldn't necessarily keep the back-to-work order in place.

"I'm not saying that would be the case at all. We would decide at that point at time based on the Public Health assessment and the CEOs' assessment about what would be the next step." 

He pointed out that it was the health authority CEOs who asked for the order last week based on hospitals reaching the breaking point.

He said any decision to lift the order would be based on the same consideration, not the state of the labour dispute.

Green Party Leader David Coon, who called the use of the emergency order "autocratic" last week, said he was not reassured by Higgs's comments. 

"I guess I don't buy it. I don't see that happening. I think that's just politics." 

Current status on negotiations

The order signed last Friday applies only to health-care workers. About 70 per cent of CUPE Local 1252 members had been designated essential and were still working despite the strike.

School staff, jail guards, court stenographers and other CUPE members on strike were not affected by the order and continue to walk picket lines.

Higgs continued to insist Tuesday that CUPE leaders put what he called a new offer to members for a vote, though union officials argue that's not possible unless they and the province reach a tentative agreement.

The premier has claimed there was a deal last Thursday night that union leaders would take to workers. CUPE denies that, saying it responded to the government's proposal with a counter-proposal in the wee hours of Friday morning.

The two sides were not far apart on wages but Higgs is insisting that two CUPE locals agree to look at a new pension system.

The province has the power to declare a "final offer" and ask the New Brunswick Labour and Employment board to order union members to vote on the proposal. 

"We are looking at that, because it is an option," Higgs said Tuesday.