Danny Cavanagh: “The system of long-term care in our province is, for the most part, a private for-profit system and that must end. I think it’s fair to say that the residents and staff in long-term feel neglected, based on their treatment and working conditions.”
Kendall Worth thinks about how people on income assistance with part time employment can benefit from unions and how perhaps people on income assistance could even form a union of their own.
Just before Christmas we reported on plans by the Nova Scotia Health Authority (NSHA) to farm out its health records document management to US-owned Iron Mountain. We speak with Jason MacLean, president of the NSGEU, about the many things wrong with that decision.
Danny Cavanagh on the need for decent pay. “People don’t often think about the cogs in the wheel as long as it is turning. Never much thought to the countless people behind the scenes in hospitals, nursing homes, long term care facilities – those providing home support. Every day they quietly worked along even though by doing so they put themselves in danger of getting Covid-19. We often think about the nurses, doctors and specialists, but not a lot about the cleaners, cooks, food service workers, the people keeping the buildings working, the paperwork flowing and all those behind the scenes keeping the wheels moving.”
Earlier today we reported how Equity Watch calls for major structural changes to the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission to deal with the many complaints about its fairness and timeliness that have been raised over the years. The press conference and report launch was timed to roughly coincide with the third anniversary of the apologies issued to former firefighter Liane Tessier by the NSHRC and the Halifax Fire Service. This is what Liane said at this morning’s press conference.
Equity Watch calls for major structural changes to the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission (NSHRC) to deal with the many complaints about its fairness and timeliness that have been raised over the years. The organization lays out its critique and recommendations in Justice Impeded, a well-researched and detailed 50-page report that was launched through a virtual press conference this morning.
Kendall Worth: In normal years New Year’s is a time of loneliness and social isolation for many of us in the community of people living in poverty. This year we will not be the only ones.
“I took every shift I could get, up to 70-hours per week, to make ends meet. With wages that low, this is what you have to do.” Lisa Cameron reports on Justin Trudeau’s 2019 promise of a federal minimum wage of at least $15 and hour, starting in 2020, and rising with inflation. We are in the final days of 2020, and yet Trudeau has taken no steps to honour this commitment.
Danny Cavanagh: The headline in the NSGEU/CUPE press release reads “Dozens of hospital employees across Nova Scotia lose jobs to American-owned company just before the holidays.” This a move from a government who praises the dedication of our health care workers but is laying off the 91 employees who work in Health Information Services (HIS), scanning and archiving medical records.
Yesterday Nova Scotia Health told us that the decision to outsource health records management was merely being considered. We have seen an internal memo to staff that shows this to not be the case.