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(Halifax) - The president of CUPE Nova Scotia, Danny Cavanagh, says comments from Opposition Leader Stephen McNeil and Tory Leader Karen Casey about recent contract talks are an insult to the integrity of the union.
Cavanagh says, “We just went through one of the most intense and gut-wrenching rounds of bargaining we have ever experienced.  Our negotiating committee members put their hearts and souls into these talks, to the point of actually watching our hospital workers go out on strike, if only for a short period.
“To suggest that somehow this process was anything but a genuine and sincere attempt to negotiate a fair settlement demonstrates nothing other than a profound ignorance of collective bargaining,” says Cavanagh.
“CUPE is demanding a full and immediate apology from both of these leaders,” he says.
CUPE’s Atlantic Regional Director Jacquie Bramwell was equally livid.  “On behalf of the many staff who   put their all into this round of talks, I would like to say Stephen McNeil has some gall. You do not become the biggest union in the country, with 600,000 members, without having the utmost integrity and character.  How dare he suggest otherwise.
“The staff of CUPE have only one thing on their minds when they are carrying out their professional duties and that is the well being of our members.  For these two politicians to suggest anything otherwise is the height of disrespect,” says Bramwell.
Bramwell says, “Neither Stephen McNeil nor Karen Casey speak on behalf of our members and it is outrageous in the extreme to be making these kinds of inflammatory and inaccurate statements.”


For information:

Danny Cavanagh, President, CUPE NS  - (902) 957-0822

Jacquie Bramwell, Atlantic Regional Director, CUPE - (902) 455-4180

John McCracken, Atlantic Communications Rep., CUPE - (902) 455-4180