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Betty-Jean Sutherland says the 3,000 CUPE hospital workers in 35 hospitals who would have been affected by Bill 68 made this government blink and we did it by sticking together.

Given this governments determination to roll back the rights of health care workers, CUPE and its sister unions had no choice but to engage in illegal strikes, mass resignations and other actions that led us to this point,” says Sutherland.

CUPE, NSGEU, NSNU (Nurses Union) took a clear position in talks with the government today that the dispute resolution mechanism would have to apply to all of our members, and we held firm on that position. The message to workers across this country is that solidarity works, says Sutherland.

Says the president of CUPE Nova Scotia, We are still not happy about losing our right to strike and come the next provincial election we will be concentrating our energies on making sure we get a government in Province House that respects the rights of workers.

As Canadas largest health care union, CUPE will be lending its considerable legal and research resources to the process of final offer selection announced by the Hamm government today.

Bill 68, which has now been shelved, gave the government the power to “impose” contracts on some 9,000 hospital workers across Nova Scotia.