Media release: migrant support organization No one is illegal – Halifax/Kjipuktuk (NOII-Hfx) released the results of an informal poll asking migrant workers in Nova Scotia about the key changes that they would like to see at the provincial level. The results of the poll are being released in the lead up to the upcoming provincial election on August 17th.
Danny Cavanagh: Blaming the workers and the minimal government benefits they receive is unfair. It is also unfair to portray workers as lazy and unproductive. It is fair to say that today’s workforce wants better than low-wage part-time jobs without benefits. They will no longer tolerate being called part-time while working full-time hours. They want paid sick leave and other workplace benefits.
We’re super excited about these events. (Subject to changes; we’ll inform you soon of the dates so you can mark…
Stephen Wentzell reports that roughly three weeks out from election day in Nova Scotia, one organization is challenging parties to take meaningful action on child care in the province.
On Monday August 2 Nova Scotia celebrates Natal Day – a day off with pay for the lucky 28% of workers who are represented by a trade union. But it’s likely a normal workday for the rest of us.
A new report makes an excellent case for the obvious, that nobody in Nova Scotia should have to go to work sick, ever. Going to work sick is bad for you, it’s bad for the people who sit next to you on the bus, and it’s bad for your co-workers. It’s also incredibly mean-spirited to force people to go to work sick.
Danny Cavanagh: Employers can keep whining about the CRB all they want. Workers deserve to be looked after by taxpayers just as employers received wage subsidies, rent programs, interest-free loans and the many other programs they received courtesy of us taxpayers.
Stacey Gomez: There are migrant workers who want to be vaccinated and who haven’t yet received their first dose. At the same time, there are migrant workers who are being pressured to get the vaccine. For this racialized workforce with precarious immigration status, vaccine access is an urgent issue of racial inequity that must be addressed.
Gus Reed on Bill 59, the legislation that sets out to make Nova Scotia equitable, inclusive and diverse. So far it’s been more empty words than substance, Gus believes. “That’s why we need a seat at the table, not a place at the take-out window.”
Last week journalist Stephen Wentzell sat down with Gary Burrill, the leader of the provincial NDP, to have a wide-ranging conversation about issues dear to the Nova Scotia Advocate’s heart, things like the climate crisis and the threat to biodiversity, the sale of Owls Head Provincial Park, poverty and social assistance, housing and rent control, healthcare and many other issues