NEW GLASGOW – About 100 CUPE home support workers with the Victorian Order of Nurses (VON) in Cumberland County have negotiated a tentative agreement in contract talks.
CUPE National Representative Grant Dart says, “The members of Local 3953 reached the agreement on April 3, which includes all of the monetary items in the provincial template plus some other modest increases.”
Dart says the agreement was ratified by the membership on April 17.
This was the last CUPE home support group to not have a negotiated contract. Once ratified, the employees will be out from Bill 30 and move to Bill 37, the Liberal Government’s sweeping Essential Services Act.
Says Dart, “We want the premier and his labour minister to take note of the fact that this local was able to freely bargain an agreement under Bill 30. It clearly shows Nova Scotians that unions and employers in this province can freely negotiate contracts without heavy-handed government intrusion.”
The home support workers, who were earning $16.39 per hour before the new agreement, have been without a contract since March 31, 2012.
For information:
Grant Dart
CUPE National Representative
(902) 921-1304
John McCracken
CUPE Communications Representative
(902) 455-4180