CUPE education workers vote 97.5% to strike; government must negotiate fair agreement to lift school support staff out of poverty

HALIFAX — CUPE School Support workers across Nova Scotia have voted 97.5% in favour of taking strike action if an agreement that lifts education workers out of poverty cannot be reached. Most CUPE education workers earn less than Nova Scotia’s median wage of $35,000 per year. “We are underpaid, understaffed, and undervalued, and it is clear from the strike mandate we received that members will not accept this situation any longer,” said Nova Scotia School Board Council of Unions President Chris Melanson. “We are holding a province-wide Day of Action today to tell government that our members need to see a deal that will make a meaningful difference in their lives.” From 2012 to 2022, while inflation in Nova Scotia increased by 23.5%, wages in the sector rose only 14.5%, dragged down by years of legislated restraint under the previous Liberal government. Education workers’ pay is now worth nearly 10% less … Read more…

CUPE Nova Scotia One-Day Labour Educational

CUPE Members! Do you ever find yourself wondering: Why are wages not keeping up?…Why has it gotten so much harder to get by? Who has power in Nova Scotia?…How do we change things for the better? There is a lot going in the world these days.  Sometimes it can seem quite frustrating, or like there is no hope for real change. Join us for a one-day CUPE NS Labour Educational course that will explain some of Nova Scotia’s labour history and then look at what is going on today in our province, country and the world. The course aim is to give you some tools to think about the world in a new way to better allow us all to work more effectively to win more for workers. Each session will be capped at 30 participants.  Come ready to listen, read, discuss and learn more about how we can build … Read more…