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.
Only a couple of more sleeps until Christmas. Will it be a paid day off for you? What about Boxing Day – and New Year’s Day? Judy Haiven explains.
91 well-paying union jobs, many in rural Nova Scotia, will disappear when the Nova Scotia Health Authority farms out its health records management to US-owned Iron Mountain. CUPE Nova Scotia President Nan McFadgen is concerned how this will impact the already depressed economy in rural Nova Scotia, now stressed even further because of the pandemic. She’s also worried about entrusting an American company with personal health information.
Nothing comes easy in the collective bargaining between the Dalhousie Faculty Association and the Dalhousie Board of Governors. Now the BoG announced it is willing to sign off on all but one of the Conciliation Board recommendations. That one issue, not a biggie in the grand scheme of things, affects at what point in time instructors qualify for educational leave.
NS Federation of Labour president Danny Cavanagh compares the media’s relentless focus on CERB abuses with the relative neglect of similar abuse of the countless COVID support programs in place for businesses. Meanwhile, at least 68 Canadian companies have continued to pay out billions in dividends to their shareholders while receiving government aid.
The decision by front line workers at the Out of the Cold Community Association to unionize is mostly about making sure that the current positive working conditions continue, and maybe to offer a bit of an example to care sector workers elsewhere who aren’t as fortunate.