Minister's 'off-script' contract offer leaves sour taste with nurses
Newfoundland and Labrador's finance minister departed from his prepared budget speech on Thursday with new contract incentives for nurses, but tied them to specific government demands.
"I'm going to go a little bit off-script," Jerome Kennedy told the legislature, in a move that appears to have done little to warm up relations with the Newfoundland and Labrador Nurses' Union.
The union is expected to release the final set of results in a strike vote that has so far indicated a vast majority of nurses are prepared to picket for a better package.
Kennedy told the house of assembly the government is willing to add another step to the pay scale for nurses, and to delete the bottom two steps. Such moves, which would raise both starting and top wage wages, have been key demands of the NLNU during a bargaining process that has been confrontational since last summer.
As well, the government said it is prepared to hike shift differentials and standby rates.
However, Kennedy said the offer comes with conditions.
"This is contingent, of course, on the union's acceptance of a collective agreement, including government's proposals on issues such as term of contract, extended earnings loss, market adjustment letter [and] classification."
Nurses' Union president Debbie Forward said she was astounded that government announced a major change in its bargaining position in such a way.
"As the minister started to speak, I was actually handed a letter by a Treasury Board official, outlining a new offer for nurses," Forward said.
"Certainly I felt like we'd been blind-sided. They bypassed the negotiations process and the place for a new offer to nurses was at the bargaining table next week not during a budget speech," Forward said.
Formal bargaining involving the nurses is scheduled to resume April 2. The Nurses' Union has not officially bargained with Treasury Board and regional health authorities since early last fall.
Forward, who criticized what she "a lack of respect" from the government, said she was disappointed that government appears to have stepped away from a commitment earlier this winter to drop pre-conditions for the next bargaining round.
"It's quite apparent that the pre-conditions are not off the table," she said. "And that is quite disappointing."
The government has wanted the nurses to accept a wage contract worth, with compounding, 21.5 per cent over four years.
Nurses have said that offer is not enough to address chronic problems with recruitment and retention, as nurses can get higher wages in most other provinces.