Danny Cavanagh looks at the changes announced last week to Employment Insurance. On face value, it looks like these changes may be a relief for some workers in the short term, but there’s lots of room for much needed improvements.
The Halifax Workers’ Action Centre (Halifax-WAC) is renewing its call for the Labour Standards Code to be amended to guarantee employees paid sick leave.
Premier Stephen McNeil wants workers looking for paid sick leave to join a union and engage in the collective bargaining process. He made the call at yesterday’s COVID-19 press conference.
The NS NDP is right, it’s time to change the Labour Standards Code so that everybody gets at least six paid sick days per year. And yes, let’s get rid of doctors sick notes, a senseless practice that Doctors Nova Scotia as well would like to see the end of, writes Danny Cavanagh, president of the Nova Scotia Federation of Labour.
Danny Cavanagh, president of the Nova Scotia Federation of Labour, calls for an end to unpaid sick leave. “Daycare workers, food handlers in restaurants and food supply stores, no matter what your occupation, working sick is not working for Nova Scotia,” he writes.
“We need to think outside of the box and stop thinking that of making it sound like taking sick days is something bad. Let’s look at the real cost. Many employers can legally require their employees to provide a sick note, which doctors complain clogs up clinics with sick patients who could have otherwise just recovered at home.”