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Community Employment Corporation workers stuck with minimum wage level pay and working conditions.
Port aux Basques (26 May 2010) - Employment support workers in Port aux Basques have voted unanimously to strike but a walkout has been delayed to allow the local Community Employment Corporation (CEC) to hold talks with the province about future funding.
The employees are members of the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Public and Private Employees (NAPE/NUPGE). They assist people with developmental disabilities.
At issue are wages, benefits and other clauses in their collective agreement, says NAPE president Carol Furlong. The workers have been without a contract since March 31, 2009.
One of the key sticking points is a demand by the corporation to abolish a memorandum of understanding promising Port aux Basques employees the same pay increases and job classifications as their counterparts on the Burin Peninsula. Burin workers have been on strike since November.
New workers at the Port aux Basques CEC currently make $9.57 an hour. This will be less than the minimum wage in Newfoundland and Labrador as of July 1. Workers who have been with the corporation for three years or more earn $10.56 an hour.
"We're not talking big money," Furlong told the Gulf News. "Government recognizes that there's a need to provide a support service to persons with disabilities to allow them to become a part of the paid workforce. It's all about inclusion... about recognizing the value that persons with disabilities can have in the workforce."
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