Nova Scotians have been reaching out to my office with grave concerns that their government is doing nothing to protect them in the face of wage theft by their employers. Today, I asked the Minister of Labour, Skills and Immigration why this government has ignored outdated and ineffective workers’ rights legislation. The Minister was avoidant and did not comment on numerous unresolved cases of wage theft in the province.
You can view the recording below:
Keep reading to see the transcript of my interaction with the Minister of Labour, Skills and Immigration.
PAUL WOZNEY « » : Yesterday this government loudly promised regulatory reform to support the economy, saying that the way things are just isn’t working. Workers in Nova Scotia could not agree more.
Recent labour board cases involving workers at Global Empire Corporation and Arbuckle Media show that our Labour Standards Code is outdated and makes it hard for workers to collect wages they have rightfully earned.
If this government is acting quickly to help businesses, why is it ignoring workers unprotected from predatory employers?
Nolan Young « » : I can’t speak about specifics here on the floor on any specific case. We are working hard for workers. We are out there. We are doing things.
I’ll leave it at that. (Laughter)
PAUL WOZNEY « » : I guess governmenting is hard.
The fact is that our current legislation means workers are getting robbed. Despite the Labour Board ruling in their favour, dozens of people are out thousands of dollars in wages due to legislation that has been unchanged for five years under this government’s watch, despite its deficiencies. The government is moving to support businesses, as it should, but workers need protection from wage theft, and their calls have gone ignored. When will this government update one of the weakest labour standards codes in the country to ensure workers actually get paid for the work that they’ve done?
Nolan Young « » : We are looking out for workers. We are evaluating. We are looking at other jurisdictions and stuff. If the member was so concerned about workers, why did he vote against the minimum wage increase?
