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New Year’s Message from the President of the NBFL

Dec 28, 2017

 

On behalf of the New Brunswick Federation of Labour, I would like to extend my best wishes to our affiliates and to all New Brunswickers for the New Year. I also wanted to take this opportunity to thank New Brunswick Federation of Labour (NBFL) affiliated members for the work that you do in your communities and within the labour movement. Your contributions make New Brunswick a better place to live and work.

This year has been a productive one for the New Brunswick Federation of Labour. We hosted our biennial Convention in May under the theme of Together for a better New Brunswick where 45 resolutions were debated by delegates. In August, we hosted our Blair Doucet Youth Summer Camp at the Moncton campus of l’Université de Moncton. November, brought with it, a NBFL political education conference themed Together for a Better New Brunswick – Agenda for the Future.

The NBFL continues to work to change legislation to improve the lives of workers. We made some gains in 2017. The provincial government adopted First Contract Arbitration legislation. Workplace violence is being added to the Occupational Health and Safety Act as an occupational hazard.

We are also working more directly with government to advance labour issues. The NBFL is represented on a labour-government steering committee that oversees the work of five labour-government working groups; working groups that will exchange ideas and make recommendations to government where consensus exists. The five working groups include: 1) labour policy, 2) social policy, 3) upskilling and training, 4) outsourcing, and 5) pay equity.

2018 will be an exciting year for the NBFL. We will be hosting a number of events in 2018, namely a Women in Leadership gala in February, a Young Workers Conference in April, a meeting of all provincial and territorial federations of labour in July.

In closing, I wanted to say that the labour movement is critical to the lives of working people. The NBFL is the collective voice of workers in the province – representing 40,000 people who work in every sector of our economy, in every region of the province.

We are a vital voice in shaping our communities. As a movement we tackle issues that impact everyone – safe workplaces, minimum wage, pension and retirement security, protection of public services, and so much more. Our advocacy continues to make significant changes for the better – but we have more work to do. We must remain committed to the long-term project of building a province and an economy that works for everyone.

Our greatest strength is our people and our passion. I look forward to working with all of you in the year ahead, and advancing the campaigns and issues that we know make a difference.

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Patrick Colford

President, New Brunswick Federation of Labour (506) 381-8969 (cell)