140 City of Saint John workers on strike after talks halt over pay
CBC
About 140 city workers in Saint John went on strike Tuesday after giving the city a final warning and not hearing back about a better wage offer.
CUPE Local 486 represents clerical, administrative and support staff.
The biggest impact of the strike could be in non-essential police services such as fingerprinting, criminal record checks and non-provincial victim services, as well as city licensing, bylaw enforcement and customer service.
The main sticking point is pay, with the union saying the city's offer doesn't acknowledge the rising cost-of-living challenges faced by workers.
Union president Brittany Doyle said the city is not following its own policy of basing increases on a three-year rolling average of tax-base growth.
"The goal here is to have sustainable wage increases, and that's what this plan predicts," Doyle told Information Morning Saint John.
Mayor Donna Reardon defended the wage offer, which was not made public, and said the city is following its new financial policy to cap wages within its means.
Wages rose almost 16 per cent from the beginning of a contract signed in 2015 and the end of the most recent contract, but Reardon said tax-base growth was about half that.
"We believe we have an excellent, fair offer on the table, but we need to be responsible to the citizens of Saint John," she told Information Morning Saint John.
Doyle said she doesn't believe the city's offer is "that far off" from what the workers want.
"I think that there is work that can be done that can get us back to the table," Doyle said. "But the the mandate is clear from our membership."
Most of the striking workers are on a compressed work week, so they work the same number of hours but over four days instead of five.
Reardon said the current contract allows up to seven weeks of vacation, up to two years sick benefits, average wages between $65,000 and $75,000, and a full pension.
Doyle said members on strike include operators in the 911 centre.
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