Labour board rules that province bargained in bad faith, orders reversal of school librarian layoffs

New Brunswick's Labour and Employment Board has ordered the provincial government to rescind layoff notices issued to library workers in three school districts.

But the province says it's waiting for the labour board to publish its rationale for the decision before deciding on its "next steps." That means the laid-off workers probably won't be reinstated by the time students return to class, according to their labour union.

The three-page ruling issued Tuesday, July 29, states that the province violated its "duty to bargain in good faith" under labour law. The board also ordered the government to cancel a reduction in hours for school administrative assistants. 

And it told the province to "cease and desist from any further changes in terms and conditions of employment contrary to the [Public Service Labour Relations Act], until the parties have concluded collective bargaining." 

The decision follows a complaint by CUPE 2745, the union representing more than 6,400 educational support staff. The union filed its complaint on May 16, and hearings took place on July 9-10 in Fredericton.

A spokesperson for the Finance and Treasury Board acknowledged in an email that the government had received the order, but added that "we have yet to receive the rationale for the decision, which is expected in the coming weeks. We will be taking time to review before deciding on next steps."

Theresa McAllister, provincial president of CUPE 2745, wants to see that review happen fast.

"We are in a very short window for the opening of school and we'd like to have this closed, finished up, everybody in their places prior to that," she said. "If they're going to take the next couple of weeks to look at that, it is not going to happen." 

The province may appeal the ruling, but the union can also challenge a successful appeal, she added. "So it will be just ongoing, with no clear end in sight." 

She said there are always layoffs at year-end, "but these are above and beyond the normal of what we would see."

The union's complaint took issue with layoff notices handed to "roughly 70 employees in the Anglophone West School District" on April 28, including 33 library workers, 19 educational assistants, 10 school administrative assistants, seven administrative support workers and one student attendant. 

In May, some administrative assistants in Anglophone West also learned that "their number of work weeks was being reduced, and they would not have a right to exercise their lay-off rights," the complaint states. News later broke that education workers also faced cuts in the Francophone South and Anglophone South school districts in response to spending cuts.

The layoffs came on the heels of a tentative collective agreement between the provincial government and CUPE 2745, announced April 17 by the provincial government. “As a government, we appreciate the essential role that these workers play in supporting our schools and students every day,” Finance and Treasury Board Minister René Legacy said at the time.

CUPE later delayed voting on the new contract as workers faced the prospect of more cuts. The union accused the province of bargaining in bad faith, saying that the question of budget cuts hadn't been raised at the bargaining table.

The laid-off workers "were caught off guard, as I was caught off guard," McAllister said. "I had no previous knowledge that this was coming or going to happen."

The labour board ruled, in part, that the province had "failed in its duty to disclose government decisions that would and did have a significant impact on the negotiation process, which constituted a violation of its duty to bargain in good faith."

CUPE also accused the province of violating a clause in the Act that bans management from interfering with union activities, but the board rejected that claim.

The layoffs came as the government directed New Brunswick's seven school districts to cut $43 million in spending from their budgets, resulting in months of controversy. Premier Susan Holt's Liberal government has defended the cuts, saying that overall education funding has increased and that staffing changes are happening due to a "redirection of funds."

McAllister said the effects of the layoffs vary according to where students live. "A lot of students in the rural geographical areas don't have access to the libraries," she said. "The school library is all they have."

With reporting by NB Media Co-op volunteer Jaya Condran. 

David Gordon Koch is a journalist with the NB Media Co-op. This reporting has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada, administered by the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS).