SEIU Local 2: 100 rally for shelter workers at the NS Labour Board to protest certification delay

Unfair delays mean ballot box still sealed 8 months after union vote

/EIN News/ -- HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, Feb. 19, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Approximately 100 shelter workers and their supporters held a rally this afternoon at the Nova Scotia Labour Board. Shelter workers employed by Adsum at The Bridge participated in a vote last June to join SEIU Local 2, but the ballot box has remained sealed at the Labour Board because the employer’s objections have unfairly held up the count. After a Board hearing in October 2024, workers expected an outcome by mid-January, but they are still waiting. The Bridge is the largest emergency-housing shelter in Atlantic Canada and employs approximately 120 people.

“I’ve been at The Bridge since almost the beginning,” said Eilish MacIntyre, the Harm Reduction Coordinator. “As community care workers our work is often heavy, and the loads are too high to carry on our own. I’ve seen folks struggling with burnout at astronomical rates, exacerbated by the cost-of-living crisis.”

MacIntyre says talks about forming a union at The Bridge began over a year ago. “There was a spark of hope amongst our co-workers,” she said. “Workers who were once struggling were suddenly excited about the possibilities.”

The employees say they need a voice at the workplace, fair scheduling, better health benefits that cover their families, and more paid time off. They believe if these areas of the working conditions do not improve, the Bridge will continue to suffer high burnout and turnover rates – and that’s not just bad for workers, it’s also a disservice to the community they serve.

SEIU Local 2 represents a sizeable portion of the Halifax Regional Municipality shelter worker sector, including staff at Welcome Housing, Out of the Cold, and Shelter Nova Scotia. Many of those union members and others were present to support their colleagues from The Bridge.

Sam Krawec works at Mobile Outreach Street Health (MOSH) and is unionized with NSGEU Local 102. He attended the rally to extend a message of solidarity.

“We are the ones caring for people,” said Krawec. “We are the ones supporting people in crisis. We are the ones building community. We are the ones fighting for healthcare and housing justice, and we are not alone.”

“Our bosses say they support oppressed people, then they fight against the rights of their own workers,” he continued. “Our bosses say they care about the community, then they waste our time and money on legal delays instead of bargaining in good faith.”

Adsum has raised objections to the workers’ application to certify with SEIU, arguing that casual employees should be excluded from the bargaining unit, and if their employees unionize it should be with CUPE and not SEIU. The union disagrees and both accounts. Casual employees are an integral part of the workforce, and they too should have a voice at the workplace through a union, and workers should decide what union they join, not their employer.

“I’m a casual employee at The Bridge,” said Josh Pittman. “Like others I work once maybe twice a week. I take whatever shifts I can get. I do not get health benefits. This work, whether it’s four or forty hours a week, is anything but casual.”

CUPE has refused to be a party in this matter — and both unions agree that the employer should not have any say which union their workers belong to.

The employees at the Bridge are not the first group of workers who have had to endure excruciating delays at the Nova Scotia Labour Board. Workers at Java Blend café waited for almost an entire year (360 days) after they voted to have their ballots counted. The vote was held on June 2, 2023, and the ballots were not counted until May 27, 2024. Workers at Pete’s Frootique, a Sobeys-owned grocery store, waited almost 300 days between their vote (May 13, 2022) and their count on March 6, 2023. These kinds of delays disempower workers.

“We all wanted to know when we could finally get started on bargaining for the improvements that we all desperately needed,” said Nicholle Savoie, an SEIU Local 2 member working at Pete’s Frootique, recalling the long wait they experienced.

“Employers can challenge votes for any reason, and in doing so they delay the process and make it harder for workers to keep up momentum,” continued Savoie. “It only serves employers, who count on turnover and burnout to weaken us. But we are not going to let them keep doing that!”

The Bridge staff care about their work and are clearly frustrated with what they feel is an unreasonable wait.

“The Bridge is a special place,” said Terri Ayles, a Client Support Worker at the shelter. “The trust the clients have with us is completely different than any other workspace I’ve been in.” But “having to wait this long for our ballots to be counted has made me feel unheard and incredibly underappreciated,” she said. “It’s very demotivating and I’m sure that a lot of my co-workers feel the same. I would love for the ballots to be counted immediately.”

Despite the frustration, the workers determination is palatable.

“It’s been eight months since our vote, four months since our hearing date and the labour board has still not unlocked our votes,” said MacIntyre. “These delays seek to diminish worker capacity and attack the strength we’ve built, but we know that when we fight, we win.”

SEIU Local 2 represents 20,000 workers in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, British Columbia, and Alberta. We are proud members of the largest, fastest growing and most dynamic union in North America.

Media Contact
Diego Mendez | 416-476-7762
dmendez@seiulocal2.ca