City workers say it’s time to bring Halifax snow clearing back in-house

Workers employed by the Halifax Regional Municipality are asking the city to bring snow clearing services back in-house to regain control of quality, problems with contractors, costs, and the city’s ability to meet accessibility needs. “HRM council has to decide what is more important: do they put the safety of their citizens first, or do they continue to cater to contractors, who have shown that their work is inferior to the work performed by Local 108 members,” says CUPE 108 President Scott Lillington. “Workers employed by the city were able to get their routes completed and were able to meet service standards, even with sub-par equipment,” says Lillington. “The contractors simply don’t care about public safety, only their bottom line. There is no acceptable reason why their routes weren’t cleared on time during recent snowfalls – or at any other time.” “Clearly, the threat of fines is not working,” adds … Read more…

CUPE Nova Scotia Celebrates International Women’s Day

International Women’s Day has been celebrated for over 100 years and is rooted in the labour movement. Union’s have long been on the frontline of the fight for gender equality with CUPE leading the way in Canada. In 1975, the United Nations declared March 8 as International Women’s Day. There is still much work to be done to achieve gender equality. In almost every aspect of life, women continue to experience discrimination. Women earn less than men and they experience gender-based violence at work and at home far more often than men. Women are still expected to be the caregivers for children and parents and carry most of the burden of household work, even when they work outside of the home full time. The situation for racialized women is even worse. In addition to the discrimination they face as women, they have the added layer of racial discrimination. And if … Read more…

Opinion: Stephen McNeil fails health care checkup

The following commentary by CUPE NS President Nan McFadgen was published in the Chronicle Herald online today. Stephen McNeil vowed to improve health care in Nova Scotia in his 2011 election platform by creating one health authority for the entire province (and one for the IWK). Almost eight years later, promises he made have not been realized. He pledged that the province would provide a family doctor for every Nova Scotian, save on health administration costs, improve equal access to programs and services (regardless of where we live), reduce wait times, and ensure we citizens play an active role in the delivery of health-care in our home communities. Centralization of our health-care system has led to chaos –– for workers and for patients. McNeil must make better choices. Let’s review his record in a bit more detail. McNeil promised a doctor for every Nova Scotian. According to the NSHA, there … Read more…