Halifax, NS – The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives – Nova Scotia is pleased to release our latest report Working Together For Fairness. The report critically analyzes the current government’s record in five policy areas over the past four years and makes recommendations for progressive next steps.
Employment and labour
This report critically analyzes the current Nova Scotia government’s record in five policy areas (health care, jobs and the economy, poverty, occupational health & safety, and Nova Scotia Power) over the past four years and makes recommendations for progressive next steps.
The report was funded by the Nova Scotia Federation of Labour based on issues identified as priorities by workers and their families.
For more about this report, please contact our Nova Scotia Office.
Fiscal austerity is a neoliberal economic policy the political purpose of which is to erode the power of -- if not destroy -- the working class through the reduction of the workforce and the suppression of wages and benefits in the interests, ultimately, of profit. Because unions are potentially the most powerful component of the working class, all-out war against them, especially the public service unions, is the most obvious tactic. Unless they become "outraged" (Los Indignados), fear, insecurity, and resentment are the results for working people.
Inside this issue:
The 21st century has been a liberating time so far; bumpy, yet liberating. We have seen waves of democratic revolutions in Africa and the Middle East. We have seen popular worker and citizen uprisings against neoliberal extremism in Wisconsin. And we have seen seven years of minority government in Canada, which has not been so tumultuous that the country slid off the planet.
“Fight like an Egyptian!” was the cry echoed by supporters of the Egyptian Revolution around the world when in 17 days the people of that country overthrew its 30-year-old dictatorship on February 11. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was forced to resign and flee on that day, after millions of Egyptians joined a massive uprising against his government that included demonstrations, protests, labour strikes, and civil disobedience.
Are unions more of a problem than a solution today?
Anti-union sentiment has accelerated since the global crisis of 2008 brought economies to their knees and left public finances in a mess.
Widespread frustration with fragile growth and soaring debt has been channeled towards unions, which are increasingly characterized as an elite, irrelevant, and a drag on the economy.
But consider this: No country has ever achieved widespread prosperity and created a large middle class without strong unions.
Regina – A new policy brief from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives’ Saskatchewan Office, The Great Wall Ties Chairman Calvert’s Five-Year Plan: Employment Growth in the New Saskatchewan, challenges the provincial government’s spin regarding job creation.
“Many of the Saskatchewan Party government’s much-vaunted employment records reflect seasonal fluctuations,” notes author Erin Weir, an economist with the United Steelworkers union. “The underlying rate of workforce growth has been almost identical during the premierships of Brad Wall and Lorne Calvert.
Is the Wall government playing a shell game with provincial employment numbers? The government regularly issues press releases - repeated by the media - claiming record job creation. However, how well does the Wall government stack up against the historical job creation record of other Saskatchewan governments?
Sweeping changes to Saskatchewan’s labour relations and employment standards legislation are on the verge of being passed. Bill 85, the Saskatchewan Employment Act, will dramatically transform the laws governing trade unions and industrial relations in the province. The Saskatchewan Party government, led by Premier Brad Wall, insists that the changes will simply modernize and simplify a dozen pieces of existing legislation into a single, omnibus employment act. But workers and trade unions are justified in thinking otherwise.