Higgs government wins final approval for public-sector pension bill

The Higgs government has won final approval for legislation that will force five public-sector employee groups into a shared-risk pension system, a setback for the Canadian Union of Public Employees but a major win for Premier Blaine Higgs.

MLAs voted 28-19 for the bill Tuesday afternoon during the third and final reading of the legislation.

Union members in the public gallery jeered during the votes, all but drowning out the sound of the legislature clerk calling the names of MLAs as they voted.

The bill will become law Wednesday the final sitting day before Christmas when Lt.-Gov. Brenda Murphy arrives at the legislature to grant royal assent to it and other pieces of legislation passed this fall.

CUPE regional director Sandy Harding told reporters that once the bill is in effect, the union leadership will look at legal options, including a court challenge or labour grievances against what CUPE considers an illegal move by the province.

"We're going to go back and regroup tonight," she said. "We have meetings all day tomorrow to see. This is the beginning, not the end."

Earlier in the day, Higgs defended the legislation as necessary to fix a shortfall in the pension fund for the affected union locals while having little impact on their benefits.

"When people realize, 'I'm on pension, what's it mean to me?' Nothing. 'I've got 25 years in, what's it mean to me?' Minor changes, Mr. Speaker, minor changes in contribution, minor changes in what it might take for retirement time," he said earlier during question period.

"The point is, we have an unfunded liability of $265 million. It needs to be fixed."

As New Brunswick's finance minister in 2014, Higgs set up the shared-risk system and persuaded or forced several public-sector employee groups to join it, including some CUPE locals.

But two CUPE bargaining units representing school custodians, maintenance workers, bus drivers and administrative staff continued to resist as recently as 2021, when Higgs, now premier, tried to shift them into the system during contract negotiations to end a strike.

They signed a side agreement on pensions with the province in 2021 at the end of a 16-day strike, setting up a separate process to resolve the issue.

Late last month Higgs accused the union of dragging its feet on that and introduced the Pension Plan Sustainability and Transfer Act.

It will force the two CUPE locals and three groups in the New Brunswick Council of Nursing Home Unions into a process to determine the future of their pension plans.

It requires them to choose one of three different shared-risk pension plans and for the transition to begin by Feb. 1.

CUPE says the contract it signed in 2021 does not allow the province to do that, making the legislation a violation of the agreement and of collective bargaining rights.

Union officials warned last week that some members could strike illegally in response to the bill, though so far there's been no sign of that.

Opposition members again denounced the bill as Tuesday's debate moved toward its inevitable conclusion.

"You signed an agreement committing to a process that you have abandoned," said Liberal Leader Susan Holt. "Now unions in this province can't trust that they will be able to negotiate freely and fairly with you."

Green MLA Kevin Arseneau was rebuffed when he asked Higgs to reconsider and allow at least one day of committee hearings on the bill with independent witnesses.

"The bill is garbage. Throw it out," Arseneau said when the government turned him down.

"We all know the premier doesn't like the process he can't control."

During question period, Higgs accused the Liberals of doing little to address funding shortfalls in the public pension system and of promising to reverse his 2014 shared-risk law only to abandon the promise when they took power that year.

"You might look at that and say 'We're trying to put in a pension plan that will protect itself from future Liberal governments,' Mr. Speaker, because that's where the province goes over the cliff and it can't fund it."

In fact, the 2014 Liberal election platform committed only to "inviting civil servants and retirees who had pension reforms imposed upon them back to the negotiating table for an open, fair and transparent dialogue."

The objective, it said, "would be to achieve agreement on a way forward for these individuals' pensions while respecting the financial challenges facing the province."

Before the final vote, MLAs passed a motion to limit debate on the bill to 10 hours.

Because they'd already spent more time than that on it last week, the passage of that motion immediately ended the debate on second reading.

The second reading vote was28-19 in favour, and a committee stage vote that followed immediately also passed, 27-19.