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(Halifax) – The president of CUPE Nova Scotia says now that the federal government has passed Violence Prevention Regulations to the Canada Labour Code, Nova Scotia needs to update its new legislation to include psychological violence.

Danny Cavanagh says, “After four years of lobbying by organized labour to get these federal regulations passed, these new federal regulations are the best in any jurisdiction in Canada.  The new definition of workplace violence includes psychological violence such as intimidation and coercion as well as perceived threats of injury, harm, or illness.

This is very similar to the definition of violence that a coalition of unions here in Nova Scotia wanted to have included in our new legislation, but the MacDonald government backed away from it.”

Under the federal regulations it will become mandatory for federal employers to set up violence prevention programs for their workers and give unions a say in how these programs will be structured.

Cavanagh says, “The legislation we have here in Nova Scotia was a good first step, but now the premier needs to take it to the next level by mirroring the federal regulations.”
 
 

For information:

Danny Cavanagh                                    John McCracken
President, CUPE Nova Scotia               CUPE Communications Rep.
(902) 957-0822 (Cell)                           (902) 455-4180 (o)
                                                              jmccracken@cupe.ca