The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) union, which represents health and safety officers across Canada, held a rally last week to demand that Labour Minister Rona Ambrose reverse her decision to eliminate the position of labour affairs officer in Cape Breton. The union is concerned that without a labour affairs officer in place, it will be difficult to ensure that workers have adequate health and safety protection. As a result of Ambrose’s decision, only two such officers cover all of Nova Scotia.

Labour affairs officers are assigned to enforce federal labour standards and health and safety laws under the Canada Labour Code. They also help to monitor work sites alongside health and safety officers and committees.

The union first expressed its concern in July, when the Office of Human Resources and Skills Development (HRSDC) announced its plan to transfer Cape Breton’s labour affairs officer to Prince Edward Island by the end of the year.

The Cape Breton-based position was created in 1993, and at one time there were five labour affairs officers in the province. If the province is left with two officers at the end of the year, it means that two LAOs will be responsible for about 1,700 federal sites in Nova Scotia. In Cape Breton alone, there are about 250 federal sites, including airline and telecommunications infrastructure and trucking enterprises. Given that local officers conduct about 130 inspections annually, it would seem that the government is stretching resources thin.

Is the government being penny-wise and pound foolish? The PSAC thinks so.

Tags: Human Resources and Skills Development, Nova Scotia Health and Safety, Public Service Alliance of Canada

This entry was posted on Monday, March 8th, 2010 at 6:42 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.