Union turns up heat over lost retirement bonus for Nova Scotia’s public sector
HALIFAX — Nova Scotia’s decision to end the long service award for public-sector workers — retirement bonuses that cost the government tens of millions of dollars a year — is proving particularly irksome for union leaders.
In legislation proclaimed this week, the government froze the one-time retirement payment for 41,000 employees retroactive to April, 1, 2015, and removed it altogether for new workers.
Janet Hazelton, president of the Nova Scotia Nurses Union, and other union leaders are adamant the Public Services Sustainability Act is unconstitutional — in particular because it removes the long service award, which she said was freely bargained.
“He (Premier Stephen McNeil) believes the province can’t afford to pay the long service award, but it has been paying it for nearly 35 years,” said Hazelton. “Our position is you can’t take things out of our collective agreement, you have to negotiate it out.”