(Truro) – The president of CUPE in Nova Scotia says last week’s historic ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada protecting the right to free collective bargaining puts the MacDonald government’s plan to ban strikes in a harsh new light.
Danny Cavanagh says his union and its 16,000 members in Nova Scotia are applauding the landmark ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada on June 8.
Says Cavanagh, “Premier MacDonald needs to recognize that this ruling from the country’s highest court affirms that free collective bargaining is protected by Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
“The fundamental question for us is, what is the point of having the right to bargain collectively if, at the end of the day, your right to exercise your legal right to strike is removed from you,” asks Cavanagh.
“All of the hard fought gains that health care workers have made in this province, would simply not be there today if we did not have that right. Everybody knows that, even the Premier can’t argue with that,” he says.
“Collective bargaining is the fundamental reason that unions exist and now the Supreme Court has recognized the Charter protects that right. Rodney MacDonald needs to back off his poorly thought out idea of taking away those rights from health care workers,” says Cavanagh.
For information:
Danny Cavanagh, President, CUPE N.S. John McCracken
Cell 902-957-0822 CUPE Communications Rep.
Home 895-2352 455-4180 (o) cupenovascotia@tru.eastlink.ca jmccracken@cupe.ca