Following a deadlock in negotiations, the City of Bathurst, NB has locked out the members of CUPE 1282. These employees work in many positions essential to the city’s operations, including secretaries, IT support technicians, payroll and accounts clerks, operations analysts, purchasing agents, and supervisors.
As of July 25, CUPE 1282 members are to be prohibited from entering the workplace and, as a result, will no longer be paid. The employer is using the financial precariousness that comes with a lockout to force the workers to accept an unsatisfactory offer which they have already opposed.
“We find it deplorable that the employer is willing to use such dishonest manoeuvres to achieve its goals. We have always cooperated with them in the past because they always made reasonable offers during negotiations. We simply want to return to the bargaining table to reach a reasonable compromise as before,” said Guy DeSilva, CUPE 1282 President.
The City of Bathurst wanted to force members to vote on its final offer by threatening them with a lockout if they refused to put the offer to a vote.
“When we received the threat, we asked our members if they wanted to vote on the final offer and they made it clear to us that they opposed it by massively refusing to hold the vote. We will stand up against these bad faith tactics and I know that all CUPE members are behind us,” concluded DeSilva.