Changes to workers’ act met with praise, criticism from labour federation

CITYTnews halifax / By Blake Priddle

The recent changes to the Nova Scotia Workers’ Compensation Act have been met with both praise and criticism from the Nova Scotia Federation of Labour.

One of the changes includes providing improved support to injured workers and their families, which is welcomed news to the organization.

The federation’s president, Danny Cavanagh, told 95.7 NewsRadio there are a number of items he likes about the bill.

“The indexation of benefits, which is in this legislation, to 100 per cent of the consumer price index is a good thing, although it’s going to be capped as a 3 per cent rate of inflation is a good thing,” he said. “They expanded firefighter coverage for, I guess, people that work for the Department of Natural Resources that do the firefighting in the woods fires and for the fire investigators that work for the provinces.”

But he does warn that the Workers Compensation Board (WCB) plan to lower employer rates, leaving 26 per cent of workers outside the system. This includes agriculture workers who won’t receive WCB benefits if they get injured.

Cavanagh said universal coverage is the best way forward and is a firm believer that all workers deserve the same protections.