NAPE ultimatum to companies: support our members or we'll take our business elsewhere

Newfoundland and Labrador's largest public sector union is upping the ante in its dispute with the St. John's Board of Trade by calling on businesses to publicly show their support for NAPEmembers and the services they provide.

• NAPE leader stops short barely of calling for boycott of Board of Trade, Employers' Council businesses

The union launched a campaign Tuesday called NAPE Members Welcome Here,encouraging business owners across the province to display a decal promoting that message in a visible location.

You poke the bear, this bear can do more than growl.- Jerry Earle

President Jerry Earle said it's in response to criticism from groups like the St. John's Board of Trade and the Newfoundland and Labrador Employers' Council.

Both groups have condemned a tentative agreement between NAPE and government which, among other things, includes a no-layoff clause for the duration of the agreement.

If you want to take on NAPE members, if you want to punish NAPE members, be prepared, we will push back," Earle told CBC News Tuesday.

Restaurant owner caught in middle

While Earle said it's not a full-on boycott, that's not what one St. John's restaurant was told in a weekend phone call.

"We had some reservations that were cancelled because of the dispute between these two groups," said Barry Bennett, co-owner of Portobello's, and a member of the board of trade.

"We had a booking for last Monday, for 40 people, the person who called claimed they were part of NAPE, the organization and that they were boycotting Portobello'sand they wanted to cancel the reservation. They also said that all NAPE members and their families will not be coming to Portobello's and boycotting it. So I really took that to heart."

I feel like I'm just caught in the middle and I just want to keep my doors open.- Barry Bennett

Bennett said January is a slow time of year, and he doesn't want to lose any customers from the union or the board of trade.

"I feel like I'm just caught in the middle and I just want to keep my doors open, trying to make a living."

So he called Earle, who was at the restaurant Tuesday for a meal and some fence mending. He also brought a decal, which Bennett put in the window.

Earle said he didn't know anything about the weekend phone call.

"This is not about being a bully. NAPE members just want to know that a business is welcoming them."

Earle's primary target is the chairof the board of trade, who has suggested that government has surrendered its ability to manage a dire fiscal situation by agreeing to the no-layoff clause.

"Do you support Dorothy Keating? Or do you support people that work in services," he said.

"Clearly the messages we'regettingfrom our members ... they don'twant to do business with someone that's opposed to them."

Earle sees the campaign asa simple way for business owners to show NAPE members they are welcome, and said there's also a benefit for the business.

Union members are encouraged to take a photograph at a supportive business, and share it on social media with the hashtag #NAPEwelcome.

NAPE will also share the photo to its Facebook page.

"What businesses are going to get from this is free advertising to upwards of 100,000 people that we have a reach to," Earle said, adding that the decals can beordered by calling NAPE headquarters in St. John's.

Letters to union-linked businesses

But that's only one component of the campaign.

NAPE has also delivered an ultimatum to more than two dozencompanies that do significant business with the union. They range from insurance companies and car rental agencies to airlines and hotels that are members of the board of trade.

The union wants a firm commitment from these companies by the end of this week that they support public sector workers, said Earle, or the union will end its relationship with the companies.

"It only stands to reason that if a business doesn't support our workers, then it is reasonable to assume that NAPE won't continue to support it with our patronage," Earle wrote in a letter to the companies.

NAPE represents roughly 30,000 public and private sector workers in the province, and Earle said many are "infuriated" by the what he called "interference" from the board of trade in the collective bargaining process.

He said current and retired union members, along with their families and supporters, have the ability to send a powerful message to businesses that oppose them.

"You poke the bear, this bear can do more than growl," Earle said.

The board of trade, meanwhile, is not commenting.

"The board of trade has made its position on the provinces finances well known," executive director Nancy Healey wrote in a statement to CBC.

"We have spoken directly to the minister of finance concerning those issues.We do not have anything further to add."