End Burin strike, NAPE pleads

The largest union in Newfoundland and Labrador wants a government decision on binding arbitration to resolve a long-running strike on the Burin Peninsula.

Support workers based in the Burin area have been on strike since last November. The employees, who earn slightly more than minimum wage, help developmentally delayed adults with a community-based work program.

Carol Furlong, president of the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Public and Private Employees, said NAPE's formal request for binding arbitration was delivered to Finance Minister Tom Marshall two weeks ago.

So far, Furlong said, there has been no response.

Furlong said the impact of the strike on the workers and their clients has been devastating. The clients clean the College of the North Atlantic campus at Burin.

In past months, the government has said that it is not responsible for the strike, as the workers are employed by the Burin-Marystown Community Training Employment Board.

But NAPE argues that government is obliged to step in, as it funds the program.

Furlong said NAPE is willing to let an independent arbitrator make a final ruling on all outstanding issues.