CUPE NL President Wayne Lucas has come out swinging this morning on the announced severance package of $1.3M for former Nalcor CEO Ed Martin.
Lucas says, “The hard-working people of this province are left scratching their heads this morning, as they learn of this extravagant use of taxpayers’ money.
“How are we expected to have faith in a government that, on the one hand, closes half the province’s libraries for a projected savings of one million dollars and hands over more than that amount to one already wealthy executive. The hypocrisy of this is staggering,” says Lucas.
Lucas says, “I’d also like to remind people that the provincial government has tried to remove our members’ modest severance package in the last two rounds of bargaining, while handing out over a million dollars to Ed Martin.”
Lucas says the whopping severance also puts the big lie to any idea that Martin left of his own free will, as the premier was trying to suggest at the time of his departure.
Lucas says he’s encouraging CUPE NL’s 6,000 members to come out to this Saturday’s rally at Confederation Hill to show their discontent with the Ball government, the library closures, the budget cuts, the job losses, the levy, the Martin severance and more.
Lucas was re-elected as president of CUPE NL at the union’s 42nd annual convention in Gander this week.