Nearly 100 library workers across three school districts in New Brunswick are once again fighting for their jobs.
Layoff notices went out Friday, just before the Thanksgiving weekend.
It’s the latest move in a months-long battle between the provincial government and the Canadian Union of Public Employees.
“I guess they want to go and fight this out for a third time,” said Theresa McAllister, president of Local 2745 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees.
That fight began after the original layoffs in April, when the districts said they had to make up for a $43 million budget shortfall from the province.
In July, the New Brunswick Labour and Employment Board sided with the workers and found the government violated its duty under labour laws to bargain in good faith, negotiating contracts knowing layoffs were looming.
The province was ordered to reverse library staff layoffs and a decision to reduce the working hours of school administrative assistants.
But after weeks of the government failing to comply, the Court of King’s Bench stepped in and ordered the workers be reinstated.
Instead, the province applied for a stay of the labour board decision but failed just days before the new school year. Emails began popping up in library worker inboxes that afternoon, advising them to return to their old jobs.
McAllister said she believed that after all of that, the workers would be safe for the remainder of the school year. The union planned to hold a vote on Oct. 16 on the new tentative agreement.
But just before the long weekend, the province sent out notices of layoffs that will be issued once the collective agreement is ratified.
“We thought we had the guarantee of hours and weeks, but they are not agreeing with that,” she said. “So all the people that were originally laid off at the first round are now being placed back into layoff.”
McAllister said she is now in meetings to discuss next steps.
A statement from Anglophone West School District spokesperson Paul MacIntosh said that 26 library workers and 83 administrative assistants are affected by the recent staffing decisions.
“Individuals who are laid off from these positions will all have the opportunity to exercise staffing rights within their collective agreement to secure other positions within the bargaining unit,” the statement said.
“It is the intention of ASD-W to not continue with library hours when they are in a legal position to do so. All the impacted administrative assistant positions will be reposted as vacancies with the new associated hours.”
CBC News asked for an interview with Education Minister Claire Johnson, but the request was turned down, as were all other CBC requests for Johnson since June.
In August, Finance Minister René Legacy said in a statement that “should a stay not be granted, government intends to proceed with the layoffs of the library workers again once we are legally in a position to do so.”
The statement went on to say that in an effort to improve reading and math scores, the province wants to see more resources in the classroom, and those plans “do not include library workers as they do not provide direct support to students.”
McAllister disagreed with those comments, and so did a report from Child and Youth Advocate Kelly Lamrock last month, slamming the province’s budget ‘fiasco’ that led to the layoffs.
Lamrock said the government talking points “had a dubious relationship with the truth,” and the department had no plan to steer more resources into classroom teaching, while the cuts deprived teachers of resource staff they’d relied on.
The government message “seemed more designed to gaslight than to illuminate,” the report said.
According to documents obtained by CBC News after a right to information request, the layoffs were the result of a calculation that was rushed through without considering the impact of the losses on the schools, staff or students.
CBC News requested records, including communications, correspondence, email attachments, reports, memos, and minutes related to the elimination of library positions. It specifically requested the research, planning and rationale behind the decision.
In the 150-page package, there were letters from staff, parents and community members urging the government to reconsider.
There were also media requests, internal discussions about how to handle them, and pages counting up positions, hours and salary totals, but no similar accounting of the impact on students and their learning.
McAllister said members are dealing with a lot of mixed emotions, and called this latest layoff a “kick in the teeth.”
“They say they’re always looking for consistency and less movement and the impacts on the kids,” she said. “Hogwash. If they cared, they wouldn’t be doing this.”
Source: CBC New Brunswick
