Photo of a group of women holding signs and speaking on a microphone at a solidarity protest with Iran

CUPE Nova Scotia statement of solidarity with the people of Iran

CUPE Nova Scotia stands in solidarity with the Iranian people’s mass uprising against the autocratic and repressive Islamic Republic of Iran. The Iranian regime has unleashed its state security to quash the protestors and has so far brutalized, arrested, detained and murdered thousands of protestors. Despite this, the Iranian people have continued to defy the state and take over the streets. We are in awe of, grateful for, and inspired by their bravery. On September 16, 2022, Iran’s so-called “morality police” murdered Mahsa (Jina) Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, for wearing clothes deemed inappropriate. In the aftermath, a mass movement protesting the Islamic Republic’s autocratic rule, unprecedented since the 1979 Revolution, has erupted in over a hundred cities nationwide. It is critical to recognize the feminist nature of the uprisings: Iranian women are leading the movement in large part through removing the mandatory headscarf in defiance of the state’s heavy … Read more…

CUPE and NSGEU logos

Administrative Professionals Bargaining Update

Your Administrative Professionals Bargaining Committee (members from CUPE and NSGEU) would like to provide you with an update as to the status of bargaining your new collective agreement. The bargaining team will exchange bargaining proposals with the employer on October 28, 2022. Seven of the ten bargaining team members are representatives of NSGEU and three are representatives from CUPE. Staff representative Karen MacKenzie from CUPE will be the chief negotiator and Tammy Young from NSGEU will act as the deputy chief negotiator. We are the third bargaining unit to go to the table, as the Support and Healthcare units have already reached settlements with the employer. The Nursing bargaining unit will follow Admin Professionals. Stay tuned for updates as the process gets underway. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact your Area VP.

ECEs and supporters protesting for better wages at the NS Legislature

Houston government shows contempt for early childhood educators, continues to pay poverty wages 

After waiting years for decent wages from the Nova Scotia provincial government, early childhood educators (ECEs) represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) were disappointed by the wage grid announced yesterday. The Houston government’s true colours were shown today, with contempt for workers in the early learning and child care sector, who are virtually all women,” says Nan McFadgen, president of CUPE Nova Scotia. “Both governments should reconsider this ill-conceived wage grid. They are sending a message that ECEs only deserve to scrape by and are not deserving of decent wages. The top hourly wage offered by the government is where wages should start off,” says Margot Nickerson, president of CUPE 4745. “Minister Druhan and Minister Gould are out of touch and don’t know what it means to be the ‘working poor’.” “Imagine! Early childhood educators have been paid so poorly that the new wage grid isn’t even … Read more…