This morning, President of CUPE Nova Scotia Nan McFadgen sent a letter to Interim President Karen Oldfield calling for Nova Scotia Health to stop ignoring the ongoing problems caused by their contractor, Paladin Security.
Dear Ms. Oldfield:
For the past two years, the brave workers who make up the security force of Nova Scotia hospitals have been fighting to secure a collective agreement with your contractor, Paladin Security. At every turn, Paladin has made it more difficult, tying the process up in legal battles and refusing to compromise on the larger issues facing these workers each and every day. The tragic stabbing at the Halifax Infirmary shows just how dangerous, and important, these jobs can be. Yet, through Paladin’s refusal to continue to negotiate, these workers have been left behind again and again.
To make matters worse, a recent decision that Paladin is no longer able to participate in the Nova Scotia Nominee Program (NSNP) has made the position of these workers even more precarious. Due to Paladin’s own practices, such as laying off workers rather than paying the $230 compliance fee to extend permanent resident permits pending finalization and maintaining a 30-37 hour workweek which is not enough to attract and sustain immigrants when the pay is so low, the Nova Scotia Department of Immigration and Population Growth (NSIPG) has concluded that Paladin does not have a legitimate labour market need to continue with the NSNP. This change puts a large percentage of the hospital security workforce in jeopardy.
It is well known that certain occupations and companies rely heavily on immigrant and migrant labour since their precarious status means they often have to accept work for less, for longer hours, and are unaware of their rights and protections. In Nova Scotia, Paladin’s staff is largely made up of immigrants seeking permanent residency (PR). In one site within the Halifax Regional Municipality, for example, 63% of the security staff is currently seeking PR through the NSNP or other immigration streams. This means that, if Paladin is no longer able to nominate their employees, Nova Scotian hospitals are going to see a mass exodus of their security staff, putting our frontline workers, the remaining security staff, patients, and visitors, at risk.
This is not an unfixable problem. Paladin dropped the ball by not following the proper protocol, which they themselves admitted in a letter to their employees on January 24, 2025, but Nova Scotia Health (NSH) has allowed this to happen. No matter what issue CUPE and the workers raise, whether its wages, health and safety equipment, or benefits, Paladin’s representatives have argued that the NSH is the reason they cannot make those changes.
The NSH doesn’t want security guards to have protective equipment.
The NSH’s contract doesn’t pay them enough to provide the workers a decent wage.
The NSH doesn’t give them the money to provide better benefits.
Paladin has made the NSH a party to bargaining, and thus its failure. Which, to me, raises the question, how much is the NSH willing to allow these workers to suffer? At what point will the NSH, and you, Ms. Oldfield, step in and say: enough is enough.
I would hope, for their sake, and the sake of every Nova Scotian that might find themselves in a hospital in the coming months, that point is coming soon.
Respectfully,
Nan McFadgen
CUPE Nova Scotia President
cc:
Health and Wellness Minister Michelle Thompson; Labour, Skills, and Immigration Minister Nolan Young; MLA Dr. Rod Wilson (Health and Wellness Critic); MLA Paul Wozney (Labour, Skills, and Immigration Critic)