TRURO, NS - CUPE Nova Scotia President Danny Cavanagh says a new report that shows food bank use in Truro has risen sharply should be a wakeup call to all of us.
“Sadly,” says Cavanagh, “Truro was the site of a huge anti-poverty conference in October of 2010, with more than 250 people participating.” It was called “Taking Action on Poverty in Nova Scotia” and made a series of recommendations, including:
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Conduct a Labour Standards Review to explore how to encourage employers to improve their employment policies
- Build awareness about the social and economic costs of poverty among the middle class and business sector
Says Cavanagh, “Employers in this province – especially the larger ones – need to start owning up to the fact that by sticking to what I call their ‘low wage model’, these are the social outcomes that we can expect.
“People criticize CUPE for calling for increases to the minimum wage, or fighting for full-time, decent-paying jobs with benefits and pensions, but the alternative is being shown in these disturbing food bank figures,” says Cavanagh.
Cavanagh says, “This is happening right here in our communities, and I would argue that all three levels of government have a moral responsibility to start dealing with it.”
For more information, please contact:
Danny Cavanagh
CUPE NS President
(902) 957-0822 (Cell)
John McCracken
CUPE Communications Representative
(902) 455-4180