(St. John’s) – CUPE wants to know what the leaders of the three main political parties think about several key issues facing the public sector in Newfoundland and Labrador.
CUPE NL President Wayne Lucas says his union has sent a survey to the three leaders on behalf of its close to 6,000 members and their families. Some of the issues CUPE views as vital to the continued health of our province’s public sector include:
· Ensuring CUPE members have access to full and free collective bargaining in this upcoming round of talks and beyond
· Implementing a provincial, public ambulance service, as opposed to the hodgepodge system we currently have in place
· Strengthening our health care system by providing adequate funding and keeping services in public hands
· Introducing a provincial recycling program that is controlled and operated within the public sector through municipal governments
· Building a public child care system that is based on the QUAD principles – quality, universal, accessible and developmental
· Continuing to fix the funding deficiencies with the Public Service Pension Plan and moving toward joint trusteeship of the plan
· Increasing the minimum wage to $10 an hour by the year 2010
(ATTENTION ASSIGNMENT/PHOTO EDITORS: Wayne Lucas will travel to Marystown on Tuesday, October 2 to lend support to CUPE candidate Julie Mitchell who is running for the NDP in Burin-Placentia West. He will be accompanied by St. John’s District Labour Council President Sam Kelly and CUPE Atlantic Regional Director Robert Chisholm.)
For information:
Wayne Lucas John McCracken
President, CUPE NL CUPE Communications Rep.
(709) 727-2509 (Cell) (902) 455-4180 (o)