CUPE Nova Scotia

Opinion: Restorative justice workers want equal pay

July 25, 2018July 11, 2018

The following Letter to the Editor appeared in the Chronicle Herald on July 10, 2018.

Nova Scotians should be proud of our status as a trailblazer in the field of restorative justice. In November 2016, we added adult restorative justice to the legislative framework, to media fanfare across the country. We are the only province where anyone ages 12 and up can, under the correct circumstances, be diverted out of the criminal justice system into a healing restorative justice process.

What we should be less proud of is that zero extra dollars and zero extra staff have been added to restorative justice since the addition of adults to the program. At the agency I work, caseload has jumped almost 150 per cent.

We remember Rocky…

February 9, 2021July 6, 2018

We were thrilled to see coverage in this week’s The Coast on Rocky Jones and his wife, Joan, who fought side by side for civil rights in Nova Scotia.

For CUPE, Rocky Jones embodied all that we aspire to be as activists and as a movement. Striving for equality, speaking out against injustice, resisting those who might try to undermine or sideline the fight for human rights protections, and doing so ceaselessly — is how we remember Mr. Jones.

Seniors pay the price for austerity in long term care

July 25, 2018July 6, 2018

Long term care workers at Saint Vincent’s Nursing Home, represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees, were pleased to see their employer raise the issue of funding cuts in the Chronicle Herald last week.

“The medical director of Saint Vincent’s, Dr. Barry Clarke, reiterated what we have been saying for years,” says CUPE Long Term Care Committee Chair Louise Riley, “that nursing home staff are really struggling to give residents the quality of care they need and deserve, due to funding cuts and understaffing.”