This article appears in Dec 6-12, 2007.
Employers Pay attention!!!!
I would just like to know when it became acceptable for employers to expect their employees to put in 110% effort while being paid casual wages ( or NON- DECENT wages) with NO benefits what so ever. Or they make the employees pay partial to have benefi
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I would return home tomorrow if I was able to secure a job that paid a living wage. Unfortunately our government is more interested in attempting to get people to return with websites like delusiona calgaria
Wages in this province are not competitive with wages across the country, regardless of where you work or what you do.
There are a few good companies here that are willing to pay a living wage (almost). Keane Canada hires IT UNIX professionals with full benefits, but they still pay entry level salaries – even for people with good a education and experience. The key here is SALARY. Most employers in NS won’t pay salaries, but prefer to pay hourly wages with no benefits. That’s what is killing our economy. The cost of living in Halifax is NOT cheap (unless you live in a dive and eat spam 7 days a week). There are no opportunities for upward mobility because there aren’t enough well-paying jobs available to move on to. Even immigration doesn’t work to our advantage because immigrants use our region as a stepping stone to gain access to the ROC. What we have to change NOW in Halifax is the corporate mindset. My husband’s employer actually told him he was working for the best there is in Hfx. already. Only then did it dawn on him that his mobility was extremely limited here. We came here 4 yrs. ago from the US and we are now taking steps to move OUT of NS. We cannot afford to build a pension, buy a home, and live an ordinary middle class lifestyle here. We have to move on. It’s too bad because other than dismal employment standards and an inflated cost of living, Hfx has so much to offer. Unfortunately, our politicians are too busy pandering to the wrong demographic. We need strong, young leaders who care more about building a future for Hfx. than pandering for votes. I feel sorry for the elderly here because they’re facing a looming crisis in health care and the economy and there’s nothing on the drawing board to help buffer the impact.
My job pays 20,000 more a year in Montreal and cost of living is simmilar…if not less ( i know throw the stat at me that mtrl is more expensive..then compare rent here and in montreal) why havent I moved yet? Because everyone and their dog in my field want to get the fuck out of halifax and work in montreal for 20,000 more a year. Moral of the story, getting out of here is like a waiting list… can’t wait til my name gets called… maybe I can finally pay off the banks for the most expensive university education in canada that i got in halifax once I move and make a livable salary.
Did you see the column in the Herald today about EI rules? Buddy thinks the solution to all the people drawing EI in Atlantic Canada is to tighten up the EI rules. Make it harder to get so people will be forced to take crap jobs with no benefits. Because apparently there’s a “labour shortage” in Nova Scotia.
EI rules in Nova Scotia need to be revamped. I know of several people who are capable of working who collect it and live like Kings and I’ve met some people who are on social assistance and can barely afford food. The money being spent on EI needs to be redirected to people who need it and the people who abuse it need to be put back into the workforce or in jail.
Actually Kristen the system is working fine and there are rules in place to ensure abuses don’t go undetected. That being said, who made you the lord of EI when determining who is capable of working or not? If the person’s job has a work shortage or other valid reason for not needing the workers than they should be able to collect seeing how they paid into the system. Your logic would allow insurance companies to look at a persons earnings and refuse a claim when a person’s home burns down just because the person makes x dollars a year and could pay for the damage themselves, even though the homeowner has paid his insurance premiums as per his/her policy.A better suggestion – keep out of other peoples’ personal affairs. Life is much easier that way.
This is probably the best place in Canada to live, even better than Vancouver. So what if you can’t afford all of the toys you want? There are some things money can’t buy.