Non-Unionized Westray Employees to Receive Severance

The Nova Scotia government has decided to extend severance to former non-unionized Westray employees, Labour Minister Russell MacKinnon announced today. A decision to grant severance to unionized underground miners was previously made by the Labour Standards Tribunal.

"This is the right thing to do," said Mr. MacKinnon. "The workers deserve their severance pay. All workers deserve fair employment standards and fair treatment."

About 150 unionized and non-unionized workers lost their jobs as a result of the fatal explosion at the Westray mine on May 9, 1992.

Non-unionized workers, who missed the six-month deadline for filing a claim for severance, were awaiting a hearing before the Labour Standards Tribunal.

"It comes down to an issue of fairness and flexibility," said the labour minister. "In light of the upcoming labour standards hearing, we revisited the issue and decided to step in and do what was right. The fairest course of action is to pay severance to all workers."

Shortly after the disaster, the United Steelworkers of America filed a claim on behalf of Westray's underground miners. The claim was for 12 weeks of severance pay from Curragh Inc. in lieu of the proper layoff notice required under the Labour Standards Code. In January, the Labour Standards Tribunal decided that the miners were entitled to this severance pay, an amount totalling just over $1 million.

Government has asked the director of labour standards to determine the entitlement for non-unionized workers on an individual basis according to the Labour Standards Code.

In the meantime, the government will continue with its efforts to sell the Westray assets in order to recoup this money.

The minister gave his assurance that the decision to extend severance to non-unionized workers will in no way have an impact on the payment to underground miners.

"Right now, we are working to maximize the money we get from the sale of the Westray assets," said Mr. MacKinnon. "We are hopeful that the sale of assets will cover the cost of all claims. If it doesn't, we will have to look at other options."