In this article originally published in RankandFile.ca on April 4 Jason Edwards explains what legislated measures would protect workers like the Founders Square cleaners against contract flipping and resulting job loss and loss of union representation. This morning I met with NSFL president Danny Cavanagh and SEIU Local 2 president Jackie Swaine who are lobbying the government to enact similar legislation, we will have a story on that later.

Heritage Day in NS is also a “retail closing day” which means that almost all stores excluding drug stores, restaurants, cafes, bars, and gas stations must remain closed. If there is a union where you work, you will be paid for this holiday. However if there is no union, it’s a little more tricky. Don’t just assume your boss knows. In this article Judy Haiven explains exactly what you are entitled to.

Last evening’s founding meeting of Equity Watch was successful beyond her wildest expectations, Halifax writer and activist Judy Haiven tells the Nova Scotia Advocate. Equity Watch is a new organization that aims to call out public and private employers who refuse to stamp out bullying, misogyny and systemic discrimination in their workplaces. “I was very surprised, I expected maybe a handful of people, and what we got were 35 angry people ready for action.”

UPDATED, now with even more rallies!!! I filed this story about a Wednesday rally at the Spring Garden Road Tim Hortons this Wednesday. Couple of hours later I received a news release issued by the Halifax-Dartmouth & District Labour Council.

Judy Haiven on everything you need to know about tips in Nova Scotia restaurants and bars. Some pretty awful stuff going on. Learn about dine’n’dash funds, breakage fees, percentages for the boss, and did you know that many restaurants and bars in Halifax in fact charge servers just to work there?

Danny Cavanagh, president of the Nova Scotia Federation of Labour, looks ahead at some of the challenges in 2018, from improving workers’ safety to the Fight for 15 and meeting the challenges of the anti-union provincial Liberals. “We encourage you think critically about things and not be so fast to buy into the same old sound bites that we hear over and over. Things have not gotten better for workers in the same way they have for the corporate elite in our country. Having workers who toil to earn those profits get a little bigger share of the wealth isn’t a lot to ask,” he writes.