Union: Furey has millions for agency nurses but nothing for public health care workers

CORNER BROOK, Newfoundland and Labrador--(BUSINESS WIRE)--While CUPE Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) is pleased that the Furey government is finally taking steps to address the lack of long term care bed availability in West Coast Newfoundland, spending our hard earned tax dollars on more agency nurses is not a solution.

“Overcrowding in hospitals isn’t just a symptom of so many people needing support,” said CUPE Newfoundland and Labrador President Sherry Hillier. “It’s a symptom of years of chronic underfunding, poor pay, and money wasted on private agency nurses.”

Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services CEO Dr. Pat Parfrey has admitted that the health care sector has been struggling to recruit new workers, especially in the West Coast. Their proposed solution to this, other than hiring as many nurses as possible from each graduating class, is hiring agency nurses. This is not a long term solution.

“Where does government think agency nurses come from?” asked Hillier. “This province has a limited number of health care workers, and they are leaving the field or taking agency nursing jobs because they are underpaid and under supported in the public sector. If NL Health Services is hiring more agency nurses, they’re hiring the exact same people who could be working in the public sector but for more money!”

“The simple reality is that health care workers in this province don’t make enough to cover even the most basic cost of living,” said CUPE Newfoundland and Labrador Health Care Coordinator Donna Ryan. “That means, when NL Health Services is hiring, people don’t apply, and then they claim they can’t find people to work these jobs!”

Agency nurses, or travel nurses, can make upward of double what a public sector nurse with the same responsibilities makes. In 2023 alone, the Furey government spent $91 million on travel nurses. This is part of a troubling privatization trend in the province that results in worse services for more money, exemplified by the new P3 hospital, which was designed with less beds and less space for auxiliary services.

“NL Health Services said they need 5 million to prepare the old hospital to accommodate those waiting for placement in long term care, who is getting that money?” asked Hillier. “Are they going to yet again funnel the money to private companies that will construct a building that doesn’t provide the space we need? Will they continue to line the pockets of CEOs with our hard-earned tax dollars?”

CUPE Newfoundland and Labrador calls on the Furey government to make real, tangible steps to improve and support the current public health care system and the workers that are striving every single day to keep it running.

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