For Immediate Release
December 6, 2024
NDP MHA Jordan Brown (Labrador West) says that this House of Assembly session confirmed that the Liberal government does not have workers’ back.
Brown was focused on workers rights this sitting, proposing important changes to legislation that would help workers across the province. He asked the government to bring back card check for workers looking to unionize, to introduce anti-scab legislation, to legislate paid sick leave up to 10 days, and to ban sick notes for short term illness. While the government did ban sick notes, they did not ensure that employers won’t still ask for sick notes for short term illness which will still waste doctor’s time and cause employees lose hours of work.
“Workers are the backbone of our province. I challenged the government this sitting to implement real change so that all workers rights are respected and that they are protected. Sadly, government wasn’t willing to listen to our calls to help workers,” said Brown.
“It was disappointing to hear the Minister refuse to deal with the wait times at the Labour Relations Board. We’ve heard from many unions that they are having to wait up to six weeks for their union vote to be counted. This is a violation of the legislation which states it should take only five business days. They feel like governments inaction is intentional, yet the Minister wasn’t interested in addressing this issue.”
Government continues to talk about the importance of “balance,” but Brown says it’s clear that government has their fingers weighing down the scale in favour of businesses.
“We continue to hear the Minister talk about ‘balance’, but when we talked about sick notes, the Minister was clear that they would not take away rights of businesses to request sick notes. She refuses to implement anti-scab legislation that would protect striking workers. She refuses to reintroduce card check to help workers unionize. We don’t have a minimum wage that is a livable wage. Is this balance?
“This government is more interested in propping up business than taking the bold actions needed to ensure workers are protected.”
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For further information, contact Stephanie Curran, Media and Communications Officer, NDP Caucus at 330-0328 (o), or stephaniecurran@gov.nl.ca
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