FREDERICTON - “The taxpayers in New Brunswick are tired of Premier Lord not listening to them”, said David Rouse, President of the NBCHU - CUPE 1252.
“The Premier would not listen on auto insurance. The Premier would not listen with his health care plan to eliminate hospitals, cut beds and reduce medical services. The Premier would not listen to an Independent Conciliation Board Report and he forced an unnecessary strike in our hospitals”, stated Mr. Rouse.
“Now the people of New Brunswick are sending Premier Lord loud messages that he has no choice but to listen”, continued the Union President.
“The voters of Shediac - Cap-Pel 0073ent him a message Monday night and as the Premier said himself, by-elections are to send messages”, stated Mr. Rouse.
“The physicians and CEO in the Moncton hospitals sent a strong message to the Premier on Tuesday. The opposition Party sent the Premier a clear message to return to the bargaining table with the Conciliation Board report. However, we now have the loudest message a Premier can receive from all New Brunswickers an official public opinion poll”, stated David Rouse.
The firm Vector, Research and Development conducted an independent public opinion poll this w0065ek and the results are now before us. We will now review the public opinion poll.
“The results show that 89% of those who expressed an opinion want Premier Lord to return to the bargaining table using the Independent Conciliation Board Report as a basis for further negotiations. Also, it is interesting to note that the forced strike by Premier Lord is taking a political toll on the Progressive Conservative Party because he is not listening to the people of New Brunswick. As you know the previous poll of September 9, 2004, before the strike, had Conservatives at 36%, Liberals at 42% and NDP at 15%”, said Mr. Rouse.
The people of New Brunswick have spoken. It is now up to Premier Lord to listen!
“We are hand delivering the Public Opinion Survey to the Premier’s office and will await his response. Like the vast majority of the people in New Brunswick, we hope the Premier will return to the negotiating table with the Independent Conciliation Board Report as the basis of negotiations so the dispute can be resolved. The time has come for the Premier to end his threats and listen to the people”, concluded David Rouse.
For more information:
David Rouse, President, NBCHU, CUPE Local 1252 (506) 432-0618
Danielle Savoie, CUPE Communications (506) 381-1966