FREDERICTON The transport minister announced this week that 75 jobs will be lost in transport budget cuts. But on page 6 of her own notes she tells us 240 jobs are gone. Which is it? asks CUPE New Brunswick.
“Lets get this straight. We know that it is 240 and not 75,” says CUPE NB president Susan Barton. “She (Transport Minister Ann Blaney) can play a numbers game all she likes, but it adds up to 240 more workers not providing public services such as maintaining the roads, highways and bridges of this province.”
The minister suggested that some people could be redeployed to other departments. “How realistic is that?” asked Barton. “The governments budget is cutting many other services and jobs as well.”
CUPE NB is launching a campaign to expose the budget as a gamble with public services and jobs. “This is a prime example of how lacking in compassion this government really is.”
“The transport minister is helping Premier Lord spin his wheel of misfortune,” Barton says, “and it has just landed on 240 more unfortunate public service employees. Whos next?”
Contact:
Susan Barton, 506-339-6443
Raymond Leger, CUPE Research, 506-458-8059.