The union of public employees”>Canadian Union of Public Employees New Brunswick (CUPE NB) has filed a complaint with the labour board after the government failed to meet the deadline to issue retroactive pay to its members.
“Government has failed to meet its own legal obligations under section 63(1) of the Public Service Labour Relations Act to implement provisions of the new collective agreements within ninety days from the date of their execution,” said CUPE NB President Steve Drost in a press release.
He said it is unacceptable that workers have not be paid for work already done.
Several locals, 1190, 1251, 1418 and 1840, are part of the complaint filed with the labour board. The union alleges there are nearly 4,100 employees without proper retroactive pay.
They’re asking to have collective agreements implement and the back pay paid out immediately, for there to be a comprehensive breakdown of the calculations for each worker to be provided and to pay both compensatory and punitive damages for the delay.
During a news conference on Wednesday, Drost spoke directly about the province’s nearly half a billion dollar surplus.
“I think that has a lot to do with why these workers are so furious,” he said. “We’ve got a premier and finance minister running around bragging about half a billion dollar surplus yet they won’t pay their workers for the work that was done four or five years ago.
“How insulting to these workers, how disrespectful to these workers.”
The union said members have waited long enough, with Drost adding the province told them it may take until July or as late as October to get the back pay issued.
Some 70 workers were given their retroactive pay but the union said it was riddled with errors, causing many under and overpayments.
“These workers have debts, these workers have credit cards, they have mortgages, they car payments, they have child care payments and they can’t default on any of that … so they were counting on that money.”
The province said in an email statement there are approximately 3,500 active employees who will be receiving their retroactive pay late.
“A number of factors are creating additional challenges for payroll services in meeting the prescribed timeline for groups: several new collective agreements signed within a short period, the impacts of the pandemic, the annual income tax period, reconciliations following the strike, and the ongoing implementation of a new payroll system,” said department spokesperson Erika Jutras.
“Combined, these have significantly increased the workload on payroll staff,”
The province said it added 19 employees to assist in implementing the collective agreements and process the back pay — a manual process — and six more are being added, but that it “is unable to meet the prescribed timeframe for some of the CUPE groups who have recently signed new contracts.”
“We are currently in discussions with CUPE on a workable solution,” said Jutras.
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