Tentative agreements reached with striking N.B. CUPE members, strikes end

CUPE lawyer Joel Michaud says the union's motion seeks to have the emergency order suspended until there is a ruling on the merits of the challenge.

HALIFAX — The New Brunswick government says it has reached tentative collective agreements with the seven local bargaining units represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) in Parts I, II and III of the public service.

These seven bargaining units include approximately 20,000 workers in the education, health and public service sectors, including road maintenance and parks workers, correctional officers, social workers, court stenographers, laundry workers, school custodians and bus drivers.

"It's been 15 long days on the picket lines,” said Simon Ouellette, communications representative with CUPE Maritimes. “It's been a long fight but sticking together and staying united pays off.”

According to the province, all strikes and lockouts end immediately and employees will return to work as soon as operationally feasible.

"The strikes will be put on pause pending ratification from the membership. We're public service workers, we want to deliver the service to the public and we always said, once we have a deal that is reasonable we want to make sure everything is up and running so we are holding off on the strike until there's a ratification," said Ouellette.

Details about the reopening of schools are being finalized and will be announced Sunday.

The parties have agreed not to share details of the agreements publicly pending ratification.

"I wouldn't say it's a 100 percent out of the park home run but I got to tell you, it's much better than what we started with,” said Ouellette.

Members are expected to vote on the tentative agreement in the coming days.

This is a developing story.