Proving that unions can stop efforts to make workers pay for an economic crisis that was not of their creation, CUPE members were successful in defending their hard-earned right to wage parity and their right to strike.
(see prior coverage: Global Issues tested as strike looms in Nova Scotia)
The Nova Scotia provincial government had argued that the union's wage demands, based on maintaining parity with non-rural areas, was not possible due to budget deficits in the climate created by the current crisis. Karen MacKenzie, president of CUPE Local 2525, which represents basically all primary health-care workers within the hospitals, responded by saying "he (Premier Dexter) is not going to balance his budget on the backs of Nova Scotia health-care workers. That’s just not happening.”
When the union decided to go on strike, politicians in the Conservative party questioned their right to strike. When their party was in power, they had attempted to pass legislation that would deny health workers that right.
The union was undeterred. Picket lines went up at 6:00 am on 18 January, as had been announced by the union well in advance of the strike deadline.
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