The union that represents about 5,000 P.E.I. government employees is calling on the provincial government to ensure there are no further provincial job cuts in the spring budget.

'We wanted to stress keep the stimulus going'— Debbie Bovyer, UPSE

Hundreds of jobs were eliminated last year. Debbie Bovyer, president of the P.E.I. Union of Public sector Employees, says eliminating more jobs would only depress the economy. "I attended two of the pre-budget meetings. What we wanted to portray at those meetings was to protect the current jobs," says Bovyer.

"The changes in the EI will affect our economy and the stimulus that the government has done over the past number of years has helped the economy so we wanted to stress keep the stimulus going, and maintain the current services that are available for the public."

Bovyer says she was pleased to hear Finance Minister Wes Sheridan say last week that he may further delay meeting deficit reduction targets. She said the union supports stretching the budget out.

The government has two major employee contracts expiring this spring, Bovyer noted. The Health PEI contract is scheduled to go to arbitration at the end of April and the contract for the civil service expires at the end of March.

She says those employees will need and deserve salary increases given increases in the cost of living.