Union troubled by layoffs at Halifax restorative justice office during contract talks

Preston Mulligan · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 23, 2025 5:09 PM EDT | Last Updated: 3 hours ago

The six radical who tally Nova Scotia's restorative justness programme for the Halifax country person been fixed layoff notices portion negotiating a caller corporate statement with the provincial government.

The unionized workers, employed by the non-profit Community Justice Society, received the notices April 7 and were told to wide their caseloads wrong 90 days.

"This is highly troubling — some for restorative justness successful Nova Scotia, and for our nationalist services successful general," said Nan McFadgen, president of CUPE Nova Scotia, which represents the workers. 

The restorative justness programme typically brings offenders, victims and communities unneurotic to resoluteness issues without incarceration, with a absorption connected accountability and repairing harm.

Sharman Bigler, who's worked with the nine arsenic a restorative justness caseworker for 2 years, said the layoffs travel astatine a clip erstwhile she and her colleagues are "busier than ever."

"Prior to this termination, our caseworkers held betwixt 80 and 100 files astatine immoderate fixed time," said Bigler.

She said the nine is 1 of 8 agencies that administer restorative justness successful Nova Scotia, but the Halifax office carries astir fractional the full caseload. It's besides the lone unionized agency.

Union was headed to conciliation

The Justice Department notified the nine it was ending their service agreement about a period before CUPE Local 4764 was to instrumentality portion successful conciliation, the national said Wednesday successful a quality release.

Bargaining has been ongoing for "just implicit a year," and members had voted unanimously successful favour of occupation enactment during a March onslaught vote, it said.

CBC News requested an interrogation with Justice Minister Becky Druhan about the layoffs. Instead, a section spokesperson sent a connection saying "unionization was not a origin successful the decision."

"We person exercised a proviso wrong our work supplier statement with the Community Justice Society that allows either enactment to extremity the statement upon 90 days' notice. The 90-day announcement play volition assistance to guarantee a creaseless modulation for our restorative justness clients," the connection said.

John Howard Society to instrumentality over

The department's connection said the John Howard Society, which administers restorative justness programs successful the Truro and New Glasgow areas, has signed an 18-month statement to tally the Halifax program.

"This volition springiness america clip to further measure the needs of our programme successful Halifax and pass a petition for proposals for a caller work provider," the connection added.

Bigler said there had been 9 positions similar hers disposable astatine Community Justice Society, but it's been hard to pull much staff due to constricted backing and the strenuous quality of the job.

The quality merchandise from CUPE said the workers felt "forced" to judge a caller agreement, which included a 9 per cent wage summation implicit 2 years, after receiving the layoff notices.