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Support the striking workers by joining them on the picket line on Thursday, July 12 in front of the Nova Scotia Legal Aid offices at 99 Wyse Road from 7:30 a.m. until 2 p.m.! You can also share messages of solidarity on the NSGEU Facebook page. UPDATED
Dartmouth (11 July 2012) - As of 7:30 a.m. on July 11, the four women members of the Nova Scotia Government & General Employees Union (NSGEU/NUPGE), who work for the Elizabeth Fry Society of Mainland Nova Scotia, are on strike.
For these women, the decision to fully exercise their labour rights has been a wrenching one: dozens of women who are trying to break free from lives of addiction, abuse, or crime depend every day on the services and support they provide. The NSGEU/NUPGE members have been in a legal strike position for more than two weeks, but had been holding off on job action in hopes that the employer – The Elizabeth Fry Society of Mainland Nova Scotia – would make a respectful offer.
Now, the members feel they have no choice but to strike.
For years, their workload has been going up while their wages have remained frozen, and they are facing relentless demands from the employer that they accept three more years of frozen wages. The only way they can express concern over the deterioration of their working conditions is to withdraw their labour altogether.
The women and their supporters will be picketing at the Our Thyme Café (98 Portland St.), a location where women receiving support from the Elizabeth Fry Society of Mainland Nova Scotia get valuable work experience.
In 2010, these four women voted to join NSGEU/NUPGE and stand together. Months at the bargaining table were unproductive as the employer refused - and continues to refuse - to offer them the same small wage increases that almost every other public service worker in the province has received over the past two years.
In May 2012, the women voted unanimously in favour of a strike to back their demands at the table.
A provincial conciliator has declared bargaining at an impasse, putting the members in a legal strike position.
On Thursday, July 12 members will be picketing in front of the Nova Scotia Legal Aid offices at 99 Wyse Road (the office tower across from the Dartmouth Sportsplex and attached to the Dartmouth Holiday Inn). A number of members of the Society's board of directors are legal aid lawyers.
More information:
Show your support: NSGEU Facebook page
NUPGE
The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is one of Canada's largest labour organizations with over 340,000 members. Our mission is to improve the lives of working families and to build a stronger Canada by ensuring our common wealth is used for the common good. NUPGE