The former mayor of Salmon Cove says the “daunting and intimidating” process of negotiating with a “major union” had council members overwhelmed and was costing the town “tens of thousands” of dollars.
The collective agreement, reached before they joined council, contains a number of clauses that limited their ability to adjust hours to meet the town’s needs.
As an example, town had to call in outside contractors at significant cost to address a water line problem after hours.
Kelly Russell, who resigned along with three other town councilors earlier this week, says she supports unions, but she felt as a group of volunteers they weren’t equipped to adequately deal with the situation.
She told VOCM Open Line with guest host Darrin Bent that it’s her understanding that each municipality negotiates their own collective agreements.
“We feel like that is not fair, and we feel like we’re not qualified to deal with grievances and stuff that come in. I know I don’t feel confident that I can do a good job with that,” and other councillors felt the same, “that they weren’t qualified to do that.”
She suggests government has a role to play to make it easier on municipalities, particularly smaller towns.
“I think what needs to be done, is government needs to maybe negotiate an agreement for all towns, because you could have a really good agreement in one town, and the next town that could have one that’s totally in the wrong direction.”
The last remaining town councillor in Salmon Cove has the authority to run the town until a byelection is held within the next two months.
