What Michelin wants, Michelin gets… always

I knew it. I don’t know it, of course. Not officially. Still. But that’s only because of all the usual bafflegab from all the usual sources. Let’s backtrack. Start with this Saltwire headline from last Tuesday: “Michelin to Spend $300 Million to Expand, Modernize Nova Scotia Operations.” In smaller print, there was this subhead: “Tire […]

Random thoughts on a random day in a random June

Whatever happened to Thursday? What’s so affordable about so much housing? Why so little information about power company pay? And other thoughts on a June day. Whatever happened to Thursday? On Thursday, the CBC’s Anjuli Patil reported the Houston government had decided not to release passenger numbers for our controversial, heavily subsidized Yarmouth-to-Bar-Harbor ferry. When […]

Permanent paid sick leave? Don’t hold your breath

The Houston government has brought back the Liberals COVID sick leave program to deal with the latest pandemic emergency. Why won’t they make the program permanent? We’re glad you asked. On Monday, January 10, 2022 — with the highly contagious Omicron variant spawning more and more COVID-related illnesses and forcing more and more workers to […]

Let us eat cake

Since 1971, Nova Scotians have been paying the price for Michelin’s success. And not just with grants and loans and the rest. We’ve been paying with our sovereignty and self-respect too. This column first appeared in the Halifax Examiner October 29, 2018. Granton, Nova Scotia: Michelin North America (Canada) Inc. today announced two new projects at […]

First-contract arbitration: the sky is(n't) falling

Eric Durnford says if working conditions in Nova Scotia now were the same as in 1984, he too would support first-contract arbitration. Durnford, a prominent labour lawyer who represents employers, was responding last week to a union presentation on why we need the law. Back in 1984, a CUPE official reminded the law amendments committee, […]