The president of CUPE Nova Scotia, Danny Cavanagh, says taxpayers should be very

concerned that the government is looking to build a private highway.

 

“We’ve just seen one of the biggest boondoggles ever in New Brunswick where the

government privatized a section of the TransCanada,” says Cavanagh. “That deal

netted more than a billion dollars for the private developer over and above costs. In

addition, the private operator is charging almost $3 million more per year to maintain the

road than if the work were carried out by CUPE highway crews.”

 

A detailed study by the New Brunswick auditor general exposed the Fredericton-to-

Moncton highway deal as little more than an expensive debt-hiding exercise.

 

Cavanagh questions the government’s logic in hiring a blatantly pro-P3 company to

evaluate public projects. “Partnerships BC has a mandate to both promote P3s as well

as evaluate their appropriateness for public projects,” Cavanagh asserts. “They cannot

possibly protect the public interest with that kind of conflict of interest.

July 28, 2008 09:10 AM

 

(Truro) - The president of CUPE Nova Scotia, Danny Cavanagh says he will do all in his power to ensure the flight attendant base stays open in Halifax. 

 “Even though the federal minister has not allowed the exemption request by Air Canada, we need to understand that we are only starting this fight,” says Cavanagh. “Minister Blackburn’s decision is a bit of good news, but it doesn’t change the fact that we still have a huge fight in front of us to stop the closure of the Halifax base.”

The union leader says that losing 187 jobs is not good for the economy of the province or the Halifax region. “This economic hit will be staggering for the local economy,” Cavanagh states. “Eight million dollars in lost wages will be gone forever if we allow this base to close. That’s not acceptable!”

Flight attendants agreed to a 13.5 per cent wage cut, among other concessions, in 2003 and 2004 to help pull the airline out of a financial crisis. In previous rounds of concessionary bargaining, the collective agreement was gutted to help the company recover from financial instability.
“Workers at Air Canada tightened their belts to assist the airline and help keep the company afloat,” says Cavanagh, “now Air Canada is paying us back by throwing us an anvil and closing our Halifax base.”

A support rally for Air Canada flight attendants is being held today at 2 pm at the Halifax Grand Parade. Among the speakers are Alexa McDonough, MP; Mayor Peter Kelly; Bill Dooks, Minister of Tourism; Rick Clarke, President of the Nova Scotia Federation of Labour and Danny Cavanagh, President of CUPE Nova Scotia.