Logos: CUPE and NSGEU

Dozens of hospital employees across Nova Scotia lose jobs to American-owned company just before the holidays

As a special thank you to our health care heroes for the holidays, Nova Scotia Health (NSH) has announced their plan to contract out the work done by 91 hospital employees from the NSH to a private, American-owned company. The NSGEU informed the provincial government of the NSH’s plan to contract out this work, but government has allowed it to proceed. Read the joint-report from CUPE and NSGEU: A Matter of Trust. “This is a slap in the face to these health care workers who have been helping to keep our health care system secure and operational throughout this pandemic,” said NSGEU President Jason MacLean. “The work our members do is incredibly valuable, and it is not in Nova Scotians’ best interest to allow a private company to take over our citizens’ health records management,” said CUPE Nova Scotia President Nan McFadgen. To make matters worse, NSH is not putting the contract out for tender. They are avoiding tendering … Read more…

Web banner: A Matter of Trust report, with NSGEU and CUPE logos

Report: A Matter of Trust

A Review of NSHA’s Quiet Plan to Hand Control of Nova Scotians’ Health Information to an American Company A joint-report by CUPE and NSGEU. Download a copy of the full report with appendices: A Matter of Trust. Introduction Starting the week of November 24, NSHA senior managers arranged a series of conference calls with 91 staff who work in health records in 24 hospitals across Nova Scotia (Appendix A). The staff, who are members of both CUPE and the NSGEU, scan patient records converting them from paper to electronic documents. They then store and retrieve records as needed by physicians and clinicians. NSHA held eight calls over two weeks. The calls were all largely the same. The Director of Health Information Services at NSHA started by telling staff that no recordings were allowed. Staff were then told all their jobs were going to disappear in the New Year. Many of … Read more…

Logo: CUPE 4963. Two stick figure people, over a multi-colour heart that looks like a jigsaw puzzle

Pension contributions are deferred wages: CUPE 4963 members faced with difficult decision to go on strike Monday

The union representing workers employed by Queens Association for Supported Living (QASL) in Liverpool, Nova Scotia, is sending a reminder to Minister of Community Services Kelly Regan that pensions are deferred wages. “It was wrong of the employer and the Department of Community Services to allow changes to be made to pensions, without proper consultation with the union or our members – especially in a sector that is predominately made up of women and where workers are already underpaid,” says Chris Sutton, national representative with the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). Pension contributions are “deferred wages”, made by the employer and the employee, with the expectation that a worker will receive an income that will sustain them when they retire and into old age. These deferred wages are one part of the total compensation that an employer gives to a worker along with regular wages and, in some cases, … Read more…