After 30 months we’re still waiting for that Halifax city living wage report
Why is it taking so very, very long for city staff to write a report on how to make sure that city contractors pay their workers a half decent wage? Good question.
Minimum wage
Podcast: Fighting for the rights of low-wage workers in Halifax
Scott Neigh does such a wonderful job highlighting activist work all across Canada. Whenever his podcast Talking Radical touches upon Nova Scotia he generously allows the Advocate to share. Here is Scott talking about the Halifax Workers Action Centre with Sakura Saunders and NS Advocate writer Lisa Cameron.
Danny Cavanagh: Why we need to raise the minimum wage in Nova Scotia
“The sky isn’t going to fall, but that’s what you’d think if you listen to the right-wingers’ sound bites on a higher minimum wage in Nova Scotia, or in fact anywhere,” writes NS federation of Labour president Danny Cavanagh.
Kendall Worth: Making $12 an hour better than welfare, but not by much
Poverty activist Kendall Worth interviews Kelly, who earns just a bit above minimum wage, about her fears and hopes, and how she makes ends meet.
Guyleigh Johnson: So then where do you go when you’re broke and broken?
Proud and happy to publish this poem and essay on being Black and unemployed, by the very talented Guyleigh Johnson.
Beating back the Timmie’s attack – Another $15 and Fairness rally in Halifax
Perhaps today’s rally at Tim Hortons in downtown Halifax, the second such rally this week, is a sign that a made-in-Nova Scotia $15 and Fairness campaign is finally gaining momentum. That’s certainly the intention of the organizers of today’s rally.
News release: Fight for $15 and Fairness! Halifax Event – National Day of Action
News release by the Halifax-Dartmouth & DIstrict Labour Council re today’s Fight for $15 & Fairness rally in front of the Central Library
Fight for $15 and Fairness! activists rally at Tim Hortons in downtown Halifax
With the Fight for $15 and Fairness! in Nova Scotia it’s either feast or famine. After years of relative inaction about 20 labour activists rallied at the Spring Garden Road Tim Hortons today, with another rally scheduled for Friday.
Updated: Two Fight for $15 rallies in Halifax this week
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.
The politics of anti-poverty policies in Nova Scotia
Christine Saulnier, Nova Scotia Director of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, looks at the different ways politicians propose to address poverty in Nova Scotia during this election: wage increases, social programs, tax-based incentives, or a job.
The Liberal plan to cut taxes will not benefit the very poor, while the money could have been used to raise the income assistance rates or reduce the clawbacks, she writes, while simply saying that “the best social program is still a job” ignores the many people who simply are unable to work. Meanwhile, the NDP proposal to raise minimum wage to $15 definitely helps people who are struggling to make ends meet.