Despite all the soundbites and nice words from Premier Rankin, he needs to show Nova Scotians that his actions will back his words if he wants to stay on as premier in the next election. The next provincial budget must show that good-paying jobs will bring stability to the economy.
Last Saturday the hardworking people at ACORN Nova Scotia launched a list of demands that they hope anti-austerity activists and organizations in the province can sign off on.
In advance of the federal, provincial and territorial labour ministers’ meeting, provincial and territorial federations of labour are united in demanding that provincial and territorial governments guarantee seamless access to universal, permanent and adequate employer-paid sick days for all workers.
Residents of Japan, Indonesia, South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, a few Chinese provinces, and Zambia have paid menstrual leave. Recently Nova Scotia removed taxes on tampons and pads, with much public approval. Paid menstrual leave is the next logical step.
Danny Cavanagh: Workers do not need the added stress of getting a sick note, often they need to pay for that, and many workers do not even have a doctor and face the added burden of losing their job if they don’t get a note. Have you heard there is a doctor shortage in our province?
Danny Cavanagh: “This shutting down of the house of assembly by the Liberals gave them essentially paid sick leave or a holiday in the pandemic’s name. Meanwhile, since March of last year, front line workers have been continually told to stay home if you’re sick, all without any offer of paid sick days provincially.”
Olivia Katz on the challenges she and other poor people faced long before we even heard of Covid. “These are not recent discoveries, Stephen McNeil knows all of this, he just doesn’t care. These outcomes are a matter of policy, his policy.”
When journalists recently asked whether the Nova Scotia government is willing to institute paid sick days in Nova Scotia, premier Stephen McNeil flat out refused. There’s a federal program that takes care of it, he said. That’s not quite how it works, NDP labour critic Kendra Coombes tells the Nova Scotia Advocate.
Press release: Nova Scotia Federation of Labour President Danny Cavanagh is calling on the McNeil Liberals to amend Nova Scotia’s Labour Standards Code to include at least ten paid sick days.
Not quite a Labour Day march, but a rally earlier today in support of 10 paid sick days in Nova Scotia drew close to 100 people to downtown Halifax.