N.L. finance minister rejects latest offer from NLNU

Newfoundland and Labrador's finance minister said Monday he was rejecting the latest offer from the union that represents the province's nurses.

The Newfoundland and Labrador Nurses' Union wrote a letter to Jerome Kennedy on Friday in which it dropped a contentious bargaining position, and put a significantly smaller wage demand before the Treasury Board.

The union's letter said it is now asking to negotiate a two-year contract instead of a four-year contract  — a condition the government must accept before talks resume, but Kennedy said that wasn't going to happen.

"They've been set out as conditions precedent to commencing discussions. What we are saying is, 'Let's get at the table, let's talk, but that the two-year deal is certainly not one that we can accept.'" he said.

The finance minister says he's encouraged that the union's position is changing, and he's pleased that the union wants to talk about the recruitment of more nurses.

"Hopefully by working with our nurses and doctors, as we have been throughout, we will be able to come to a solution on this issue," he said.

Kennedy said he'll write nurses a letter suggesting that they begin talks with a discussion about recruitment and retention.

The union, which begins a six-week series of strike votes next week, has asked government to consider a two-year deal with raises of eight per cent in each year.

That's a third less than the union's opening bargaining position, which focused on a two-year contract with 12 per cent raises in each year.

Even before the economy suddenly worsened last fall, the government had said it could not afford the nurses' wage demands.

The government had wanted all of its public-sector unions to accept a four-year wage deal that included an eight per cent raise in the first year, with four per cent raises in the following three years.

However, Premier Danny Williams last week pulled the four-year wage template off the table, saying that the most recent federal budget will cost the provincial government about $1.6 billion in lost revenue over three years.

Talks between the union and the provincial government broke off last fall, before nurses began a series of pressure-building work tactics, including refusing to do "non-nursing duties" that include housekeeping and running routine lab samples.