You can watch the recorded Member Statement below:
THE SPEAKER « » : The honourable member for Sackville-Cobequid.
SCOTIA SQ. CUSTODIAL STAFF: CONTRACT DECISION – CONGRATS.
PAUL WOZNEY « » : I rise today to congratulate the dedicated custodial staff of Scotia Square on securing a new deal with their new contractor, ensuring the continuance of the collective agreement and preventing a damaging contract flip.
Nova Scotia’s janitorial sector is a particularly vulnerable one, owing to Nova Scotia’s lack of successorship rights. Without the right to successorship, those employed by a contractor, as many custodians are, can be easily terminate en masse by a lower bidder taking over the contract.
This is precisely the fight in which Scotia Square’s janitors found themselves last fall. Just months after securing raises, more reasonable workloads, and a pension plan, the employer’s contract went to tender and threatened everything they’d fought for. Thankfully, they signed a fresh agreement with a new contractor just weeks ago to maintain these hard-fought gains.
I ask that all present join me in congratulating Scotia Square’s custodial staff on their recent victory and thanking them for their dedicated service to the people of Halifax.
