Wednesday, 8 May 2024

Labour

Poor working conditions? Your rights violated at work? A new organization in Halifax offers support if you have nowhere to go

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People who get paid the least and work in the most unstable jobs are often the people most vulnerable to abuse by their bosses. And without a union or money to get legal help, these workers usually have nowhere to go. In Halifax at least that situations has improved a bit. There is now a Workers Action Centre (WAC) that you can turn to for answers to your questions and for concrete support.

The union local that fought privatization and won

All too often it’s a foregone conclusion when government decides to outsource a service. But the cleaners at CFB Greenwood and CFB Kingston, Ontario, fought back, and they won. Here is how they did it.

Letter from Danny Cavanagh to transportation minister: Don’t use our tax money to pay US customs officers in Maine

“Minister Hines, Nova Scotia taxpayers must not be on the hook to pay for US Customs officers in Bar Harbor Maine. It is appalling that the US Customs and Border Protection services expect Bay Ferries to pay for upwards of ten additional customs agents to staff the terminal.  It’s even more appalling that our Nova Scotia government would even think about footing this cost,” writes NS Federation of Labour president Danny Cavanagh. “We would also ask that you challenge both Bay Ferries and the USA Customs Services if we continue to do business with them to not put workers in danger by working in a building or buildings that may contain asbestos and PCBs.”

One year after the Liane Tessier apology, what has changed at Halifax Fire?

It’s been a year since Halifax Fire chief Ken Stuebing publicly apologized to Liane Tessier, and both Halifax Fire and the Human Rights Commission are reluctant to share what changes were made at the organization to deal with the misogyny that was so prevalent. “We’re dealing with issues that were hidden, now we are letting it out of the bag and HRM and the NS Human Rights Commission don’t like it, because now they are being held to account,” Tessier says, pointing to the work of Equity Watch, the anti-bullying organization she co-founded.”