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President's Notebook
In a pivotal ruling, the Nova Scotia Supreme Court found that Bill 148, the Public Services Sustainability Act, is unconstitutional.
Eleven years after the McNeil Liberals passed Bill 148, the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia issued an historic decision stating the government violated the constitutional rights of 75,000 public sector workers, including nurses. Among other things, the Act imposed a wage freeze, and ended a negotiated benefit, the Retirement Allowance, also known as the Long-Service Award.
The unions representing these workers (NSNU, NSGEU, CUPE, CUPE Local 1867, NSTU, Unifor, SEIU, IUOE, and CUPW) joined forces under the Nova Scotia Federation of Labour and were committed to fighting the legislation to the bitter end.
The ruling confirms what the NSNU and the other unions have been saying all along - Bill 148 was a
punitive piece of unconstitutional legislation with longstanding negative consequences to our bargaining power and the collective bargaining process. The Court’s decision restores balance in the collective bargaining framework and reaffirms workers’ rights to free and fair negotiations.
Premier Houston had promised to repeal Bill 148 when he campaigned in August 2021. When elected Premier, he backtracked on that campaign promise. The ruling allows the government of the day an additional 12 months to find a remedy, but the judge has reserved
jurisdiction on the case to order a remedy, if required. Government may appeal this decision.
This landmark decision is a victory for workers in Nova Scotia and sends a message to government that they must allow fair and free collective bargaining across the board. NSNU looks forward to seeing restitution for this injustice, in whatever form that takes.
In the coming weeks to months, the NSNU and other unions will work to determine what the impact of the decision will be on our members. That information is not available to us at the moment while so much is
still unknown.
We thank all members for their support as we navigated this rocky road. We ask that you remain patient as we move forward to the remedy phase of the legal process.
We also wish to thank Jill Houlihan and George Franklin of Pink Larkin who skillfully and patiently championed our cause and who celebrate this win with us.
