Striking public works employees with the Region of Queens were back on the picket line Tuesday in Liverpool. (Rick Conrad photo)

Supporters of striking Region of Queens workers blasted elected councillors on Tuesday, demanding that they show some leadership in the dispute.

They want the mayor and councillors to tell the region’s negotiators to return to the bargaining table and settle the strike.

Thirty-eight members of Local 1928 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers have been on the picket line since Thursday. The union says they are some of the lowest-paid municipal workers in Atlantic Canada.

The region does not dispute that, but says it’s been trying to address those inequities in contract negotiations that have been going on for about a year.

RELATED: Region of Queens workers strike for better wages, overtime protection

Some positions pay less than $18 an hour, with some people on Tuesday saying that they can’t afford to support their families.

Family and friends of the striking public works employees told councillors at their regular meeting on Tuesday that they were ashamed of how the region has treated the workers. Elected officials do not get involved directly with labour negotiations, but can set the tone for the region’s negotiators.

Wages, overtime protections and even who’s in or out of the bargaining unit are the main sticking points in the dispute.

Meghan MacAdams was one of the people who spoke to council during the public presentation portion of the meeting. As striking workers picketed outside, she read out the names of the 36 employees.

Her partner has worked with the region for six years. In a recent CBC story, the region’s acting CAO Pam Lovelace claimed that only 20 employees were affected.

“Here is the individual handpicked by you all, acting as a representative of your side of the line, sharing inaccurate information,” MacAdams told councillors.

“
Was this an attempt to create a calmer narrative in which this issue was smaller than it really is, or is this simply a demonstration of how uninterested and uninvested the region has become in its workforce? What that one tiny detail told me, intentionally stated or not, is that those who run our county either can’t be trusted to provide us with truthful and accurate information, or they have become so disconnected with their employees they aren’t even aware of how many livelihoods they are toying with.

“Neither of these options sit well with me. 
Unfortunately, I see this as a clear indication of just how undervalued these men have become, which is one of the key issues in my opinion that has brought us to the divide we are at today. But I remain hopeful the region, the powers that be, will step up and make a fair and honest attempt at resolution. Our men deserve better.”

Debbie Wamboldt, a longtime community advocate and volunteer who spearheaded the successful fundraising drive for the popular inclusive play park in Liverpool, also expressed her frustration with the stalled talks. 

“Most of you know me from the play park project,” she said.

“That took six years of my life to bring to this county because I was proud of where I come from. … But I have to say that I’m standing here before you as somebody who is no longer proud of where I come from. 
I’m not proud of where we’re standing.

“My husband has worked for the region for 20 years. We give our time to this community, and our community is standing behind us. And it’s your job now  to stand behind us. 
We need to get back to the table, and our workers, my family, my friends, my husband’s colleagues, deserve better.

“This is shameful. This is really shameful.”

Before the strike, the region and the union had been negotiating to adjust job classifications and wage grids to bring Queens workers’ salaries more in line with other municipalities.

The region had commissioned a compensation review of unionized and non-unionized positions more than a year ago. That review has never been made public. 

But in response, the previous council had agreed to boost salaries for some non-unionized positions.

Mayor Scott Christian says the wage parity study was the foundation for the region’s offer in the latest contract talks.

The region says adjusting salaries for some jobs would result in raises from 2.5 to 26 per cent. But talks stalled in mid-December after the region’s so-called final offer. About 97 per cent of employees voted for strike action.

Both sides met again last Tuesday with a provincially appointed conciliator. But union representative Jim Sponagle said the region’s offer hadn’t improved much from the one members had rejected. He said their wage offer amounted to about two per cent a year on top of adjusting for wage inequities.

Christian released a video on Facebook on Sunday, saying that he understands how challenging negotiations have been for employees and their families. He appealed for patience.

After Tuesday’s meeting, Christian and the rest of council were due to get an update on negotiations in a closed-door session. Before that, he said in an interview that councillors want a fair deal for workers, but one that doesn’t burden taxpayers.

He also said not all councillors have seen the wage review study, which he wants to be made public. 

“I think it should be. It was something that I was very frustrated with before I ended up in this position as a resident that that wasn’t made publicly available. And so, I’m going to be asking our our staff here. and directing our staff here as to what elements or if that can be released, in in its entirety. We’ve seen we’ve seen portions of it. … There’s going to be more of that information provided to council today.

“To be honest, I’m not that comfortable with some of the tactics that have been employed by both sides of the negotiation. I feel like it has escalated and has become more contentious than it ought to have. … We’re going to be looking for direction from council as to (how) to de-escalate this, to get back to meaningful, productive conversations.

“We need both sides to come back to the table and with some humility, I think, and a willingness to concede and find a productive way forward. I agree the tone, the nature, the spirit of the thing has become really contentious and I’m not comfortable with it. I am going to meet with council and we’re going to … determine what we think is the appropriate next step with respect to directing the negotiating team moving forward.”

The striking workers are responsible for maintaining the region’s streets, sidewalks, parks and other properties. They also work in waste and recycling facilities as well as water and sewage treatment plants.

Their last contract expired March 31. 

The region has said that services won’t be interrupted by the strike, with managers, supervisors and third-party contractors doing the work.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

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Kids play this week at the splash pad at Etli Milita’mk, the universally designed play park in Liverpool. (Rick Conrad)

UPDATED JULY 20 at 10:30 a.m.

Region of Queens councillors will vote next week on whether to write off almost $51,000 in cost overruns and funding shortfalls at the universally designed play park in Liverpool.

Councillors voted last week to move the issue forward to their June 25 meeting for a final vote. Most of them appeared to support absorbing the cost.

District 2 Coun. Ralph Gidney was the only one against the motion to vote on the matter at their next meeting.

The provincial organization recently asked the municipality to cover $50,962 in unpaid bills on the $630,000 playground. Some $5,988.79 of that is interest on the overdue account.

Joanne Veinotte, director of corporate services, told councillors last week that Autism Nova Scotia told the municipality they believed that the region would cover any shortfalls.

“Fundraising was less than forecasted. The ACOA contribution was less than budgeted and there were cost overruns such as short-term security for surfacing materials, rescheduling of a rubber surface contract and extension of a rubber surface area. This all contributed to the overage.”

Beyond that, however, details about the overdue account were sparse. It was unclear what the outstanding bill is for or to whom, or when Autism Nova Scotia realized that there wasn’t enough money on hand to cover all the expenses of the project.

The playground is named Etli Milita’mk (pronounced ed-a-lee milly-dumk), which is Mi’kmaw for “we are playing here”. It opened last October, after years of community fundraising led by Queens County resident Debbie Wamboldt and others. It’s designed to be inclusive and accessible for everybody, regardless of ability or age. 

The community group raised about $100,000 on their own, with the region donating the land near Queens Place Emera Centre and committing $111,773 from its community investment fund. ACOA and the provincial government also contributed to the project.

Autism Nova Scotia issued charitable tax receipts and held the money in trust to pay the region for construction as invoices were submitted. The region also agreed to own, operate and maintain the playground.

QCCR tried numerous times for an interview with officials from Autism Nova Scotia. Last week, a spokeswoman said in an email that they were “unable to provide an interview at this time”.

QCCR asked the municipality this week for clarification on the account. In an email, Heather Cook, the region’s communications and engagement co-ordinator, explained that the municipality has paid all bills related to the park and no suppliers are owed money.

Because of cost overruns and funding shortfalls, she said, Autism Nova Scotia contacted the region in April to say that it would not be paying the full amount of the final invoice, which the municipality issued in January. The group did not pay any interest on overdue invoices during the term of the project, resulting in interest charges which contributed to the shortfall.

Councillors will vote on June 25 “to fund the outstanding interest charges and project overrun that (are) owed to the municipality due to the funding shortfall.”

The money would come from the municipality’s accumulated budget surplus.

District 1 Coun. Kevin Muise said last week that councillors had voted to donate the land and approve funding from the community investment fund. But he said they didn’t vote to cover any overruns.

District 3 Coun. Maddie Charlton asked if there was any additional information that staff could share with councillors before their next meeting.

CAO Cody Joudry, who took over in November, said there wasn’t.

“I don’t believe there is any other documentation to provide council. … From Autism Nova Scotia’s perspective, they’re like, ‘Well, it’s not really fair to make us cover the difference because we were just the pass-through and really the region was the one who was managing the project.’

“I think if we were doing this over again, we would have brought this to council a lot sooner, like in the construction phase and talked about these issues. But I can’t do anything about that now. So, unfortunately, Coun. Charlton, I do not believe there is any more information I can bring you.”

Councillors did not want to ask Autism Nova Scotia or the local fundraising group to cover the extra costs.

Mayor Darlene Norman said that it was nobody’s fault. Construction delays and weather last summer contributed to the extra expenses. 

She said in an interview Monday that it didn’t help that the region was without a full-time CAO for much of last year. Former CAO Chris McNeill left the job in May. 

“Remember, this was a time when we had no CAO last year, directors were shifting and taking those roles. And then we had the boil water situation happening, we had no permanent CAO. I’m not saying that’s any reason why this may have occurred, but obviously there was lack of communication between Autism Nova Scotia and Region of Queens staff.”

Norman said that in future, the region would likely approach projects like this differently.

“It was a lesson that if a project like this should ever be undertaken again there needs to be very firm rules respecting who manages what and conversations and communication between the two partners.”

The June 25 council meeting will be held at the Westfield Community Hall in North Queens.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Region of Queens councillors plan to cover cost overruns and funding shortfalls for the Queens universally designed play park in Brooklyn. (Rick Conrad)

The Region of Queens plans to pick up the tab for almost $51,000 that’s still owed on the universally designed play park in Brooklyn.

The $630,000 playground opened in October 2023. Named Etli Milita’mk (pronounced ed-a-lee milly-dumk), it was the initiative of Queens County resident Debbie Wamboldt, who led private fundraising for the park and who first approached the region in 2015 about supporting it.

It’s designed to be accessible and inclusive of everyone, regardless of age or ability.

The park includes ramped decks, braille and audio elements as well as a spray pad with sprinklers, a fountain, filler buckets and jet spray units.

Wamboldt and other volunteers raised about $100,000 toward the park’s construction. Autism Nova Scotia issued charitable tax receipts and held the money in trust to pay the region for construction as invoices were submitted.

The region initially contributed $111,773 from its community investment fund and it donated the land near Queens Place Emera Centre.

ACOA and the Nova Scotia government topped up funding.

The region also agreed to own, operate and maintain the playground.

On Tuesday, however, councillors were told that project costs exceeded revenue. Autism Nova Scotia said fundraising was lower than expected and the ACOA contribution was less than budgeted.

And there were construction cost overruns with the project such as the material and installation for the rubber surfacing in the park.

Because of that, Autism Nova Scotia asked the region to absorb that extra cost of $50,962. Just under $6,000 of that is the accumulated interest on the unpaid bill.

Mayor Darlene Norman said she and the rest of council were aware of the shortfall only last week.

“It was a dream to have this universal play park,” Norman said in an interview.

“Autism Nova Scotia agreed to be the body that would look after the accounting and the monies as they were collected with the agreement that it becomes the property of the region. It was at that point or sometime later, I’m not certain, that it was evident there may be a shortfall.”

Autism Nova Scotia told the region’s staff that it believed that the municipality agreed to cover any cost overruns or funding shortages.

District 1 Coun. Kevin Muise said he was involved in those negotiations and he doesn’t recall any such agreement. He said he wasn’t opposed to picking up the tab, but that council hadn’t agreed in advance to do that.

Other councillors said they were conflicted about the issue. They said the local fundraising group went “above and beyond” in their efforts to get the park built and councillors didn’t want to ask them to raise more money.

“The majority of council felt it was very unfair … understanding the valuable work that Autsim NS does, it would be very unfair to ask them for another $51,000 because of all they’ve done, and also felt it very unfair to ask the local fundraising committee to raise another $51,000.”

Norman said it’s money well spent.

“I can’t imagine why anyone would question why the municipality should pay the remainder of the cost on something that we own. It’s a lovely play park that as region taxpayers, we paid $161,000 for. And there will always be the dissenters and the naysayers who will say it’s the region’s fault. It’s a beautiful play park, and it’s a lot of money to construct it, however it belongs to the region and the region is paying that outstanding amount.”

The issue will come back to council’s June 25 meeting, where they will vote on taking the money from their accumulated budget surplus.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

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Rendering of new spray pad at Etli Milita’mk park. Photo Region of Queens

The spray pad in the long-awaited universally designed playpark at Queens Place opens Tuesday.

The water feature includes sprinklers, a fountain, filler buckets and jet spray units and is the first phase of the complete design

Community members raised over $450,000 with the goal of building a universal playpark that includes ramped decks, braille and audio elements as well as a Spray Pad to make it inclusive to everyone regardless of age or ability.

The park is the realization of a dream shared by several groups throughout Queens.

Local resident Debbie Wamboldt first approached the Region of Queens in 2015 about supporting the construction of a universally designed park. Since then, she was the driving force behind the fundraising effort. For their part, the Region provided the land next to the skate park at Queens Place and will own, operate, and maintain the park for residents. Autism Nova Scotia holds the money in trust and releases it as invoices are submitted by the municipality.

The name Etli Milita’mk (pronounced ed-a-lee milly-dumk) is a Mi’kmaq phrase which translates to “We are playing here” and was selected for the playpark after consultation with Acadia First Nation representatives.

Construction of the park has been delayed by supply and staff shortages brought on by the pandemic but if all goes as it should, the park will be fully opened and operational by the end of September.

In the meantime, the spray pad will be open from 9:00am to 8:00pm every day until September.

E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com

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