Government agrees to include cuts to Service Award in its judicial review of Bill 148

Nova Scotia Government and General Employee Union President Jason MacLean is pleased that the Premier has amended their judicial review of Bill 148 to include the articles that strips working people of benefits they earned in previous collective agreements.

“We have been clear from the beginning we do not believe Bill 148 is Constitutional and I’m pleased to see that the Premier is now willing to send those articles to the court for review,” said MacLean.

When Government enacted Bill 148 on August 22nd, they stated that they were sending Bill 148 to the Nova Scotia Court of Appeals for a Judicial review.  A day later it was reported that they only sent the section related to wage patterns for review.

“Since Bill 148 was enacted we have been calling on Stephen McNeil to send the entire bill for review. Public Service workers from many different unions converged on the Legislature’s opening day and we ran ads across Nova Scotia to make sure working people’s voices were heard,” said MacLean. “Seeing today’s amendment shows what can be done when a Government and a Premier are made to listen.”

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The Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union represents over 30,000 women and men who provide quality public services Nova Scotians count on every day.

For more information, please contact:

Lucas Wide

NSGEU Communications Officer

902-424-4063 (office) 877-556.7438 (toll free) lwide@nsgeu.ca