Attention members of CUPE Nova Scotia’s Standing Committees: Our 2024 All Committees meetings will be taking place from October 3rd to 5th at the Inn on Prince in Truro! More details to follow soon. Mark your calendars!
When discussions of rent control enter the mainstream media, the conversation almost always shifts to the negative impact these controls would have on the housing market or the quality of rental properties. This is untrue. Strong rent regulations, as demonstrated by the 2024 article from the CCPA, Arguments Against Rent Control Don’t Hold up to Scrutiny, have been proven to be an effective way to control rent prices without negatively impacting the housing market or the quality of rentals. Multiple National and Provincial level studies have been done on the effects of rent caps on the rental market—such as the number of new constructions, the quality of rental properties, and the number of available dwellings—and found there was no evidence of any negative effects unless the rent control action taken was a total rental price freeze. Rent control can take many forms depending on the issues the area is facing … Read more…
To our fellow CUPE members in the education sector, we are now well into bargaining! The bargaining teams of all eight NSSBCU locals have met with their respective employers at least twice since May. But before negotiations started, the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (EECD) informed us that they did not want to negotiate provincial proposals at a common table, as before. In previous contract negotiations, Regional Centres for Education (RCEs) met with local bargaining committees to discuss local proposals, but also came together to meet with the provincial bargaining committee to negotiate provincial proposals at a common table. Instead, the EECD has indicated that common proposals will be negotiated at local tables. But having a provincial bargaining team negotiate common proposals helps us ensure consistency in common issues across the eight RCEs in Nova Scotia and it helps us present a united front to the employer. So, … Read more…