Province spent $60K so far on law firm for public sector bargaining: NAPE

Officials from theNewfoundland and Labrador Association of Public and Private Employees (NAPE) arespeaking out inthe wake of new information that the provincial government has paid tens of thousands of dollars to a law firm to help with public sector bargaining.

NAPE said in a releaseWednesdayit has learned through anAccess to Information (ATIPPA) request thatthe provincehaspaid out$61,868to law firm McInnes Cooper in the last three months.

It was previously knownthat the province was planning to hire the firmfor labour negotiationswith unions, such as NAPE, CUPE, the RegisteredNurses'Unionand the Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers' Association.

McInnes Cooper's services come with a $350 per hour rate forcollective bargaining support, and $175 perhour ratefor any additional services

NAPE saidtheprovince has alsoretained the services of CathyDornan, a crisis and communications specialist, to deal with the negotiations.

According to the NAPE release, $20,030of the money given to McInnes Cooper has gone towards Dornan alone.

Thatmoney being paid toMcInnesCooper is on top of the funding that has already been paid to the province'sin-house labour relations division andcommunications staff, NAPE said.

Labour talks haven't started yet

UnionPresident Jerry Earlesaid the money was also spent before the 16 bargaining groupshavehad the opportunity to hold asingle bargaining meeting with the province.

"We will be filing an ATIPPA request every month on this matter and will be posting constant updates to the public on how their tax dollars are being wasted in this regard," said Earle in the release.

He said that it's troubling that the province is spending all this money, especially when they recently missed two "extremely important bargaining deadlines for at least two public sector unions."

Last week, the province missed a crucial deadlinefor negotiations with the province's registered nurses union.

That triggered an automatic extension of the previous years' contract.