Statement by Equity Watch on the provincial government’s autocratic handling of the pandemic. “It seems clear that to this government workers, organizations and opposition politicians are to be seen but not heard. “
“The largest and one of the deadliest outbreaks of Covid-19 in a long-term care (LTC) facility in Canada is raising serious questions about how Nova Scotia’s government has handled the crisis – and whether ignoring early warnings from frontline workers and their unions had deadly consequences,” writes John McCracken.
“Events of the last few weeks have provided a disturbingly strong case that Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil’s well-worn, anti-union biases prevented him from making the right decisions on fighting the Coronavirus in Nova Scotia’s long-term care (LTC) facilities,” writes John McCracken.
Nova Scotia’s health care Council of Unions is calling on government and employers to sign onto a safety protocol that ensures frontline workers are protected and supported during this unprecedented time. Tony Seed reports.
A coalition of unions representing more than 40,000 health care workers is launching a new campaign today, asking Nova Scotians to call on government to sign an important protocol to provide proper Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to our province’s frontline healthcare workers.
The NSGEU and the NS College of Social Workers are raising the alarm about the state of child welfare services in Nova Scotia. Insufficient funding and increased complexity are putting pressures on the system that cannot be sustained, they warn. Parents and children will suffer as a result, and they are calling on Nova Scotians to help put a stop to that.
NSGEU news release on this morning’s announcement that QEII redevelopment, which include the eventual decommissioning of part of the Victoria General site and the construction of five new health care buildings in the Halifax area, will be using a P3 model. “This government has chosen the most expensive way to get this project done,” said NSGEU President Jason MacLean.
The provincial government is engaged in an orchestrated effort to move education jobs out of the union sphere. 1000 school principals, 200 or more school psychologists and speech and language pathologists, social workers and new positions in the expanding Schools Plus program will no longer be unionized. “While this may be a less sensational way of weakening the unions than, say, imposing wage freezes and concessions that force teachers and other education workers out onto the picket line, it poses no less a threat to their very existence,” writes John McCracken.
Jason MacLean, president of the NSGEU, was pulled over for driving with a tinted window. At least, that’s the police officer’s story. MacLean is convinced he was pulled over because he is Black.
A private for-profit blood supply system is not welcome in Nova Scotia, and the provincial government should enact legislation as soon as possible to ensure private companies do not get to set up shop here. That was the main message at this morning’s press conference organized by unions, the Nova Scotia Health Coalition and Bloodwatch, an organization that advocates for a safe, voluntary, public blood system in Canada.