St. Vincent’s Nursing Home Votes to Strike

HALIFAX, NS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Long term care workers from St. Vincent’s Nursing Home, represented by CUPE 1082, have voted 97.5% in favour of a strike mandate. As the lead table for CUPE long term care bargaining, CUPE 1082 is fighting for better wages, improved recruitment and retention, and acknowledgment of the work of support services classifications for the entire sector.

“Long term care workers in Nova Scotia are the lowest paid in Atlantic Canada,” said CUPE 1082 President Janet MacDonald. “That’s not an exaggeration, that’s a fact, and it’s unacceptable. How are we supposed to care for your loved ones if we can’t even afford to care for our own?”

Several essential classifications in long term care, such as dietary aides and seamstresses, make less than $20 an hour, putting them well behind the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives` living wage estimates for Nova Scotia. But they are not alone, classifications such as cooks and maintenance also make several dollars less than their counterparts in other Atlantic provinces.

“Wages shouldn’t be a race to the bottom,” continued MacDonald, “but, if they were, Nova Scotia would be dead last and that’s shameful.”

On September 22, members of CUPE 1082 alongside the CUPE Long Term and Community Care Committee attended the first fall seating at the legislature where questions about the lack of attention given to senior care workers in this province were posed.

“Minister Adams stood there and told us that they’re doing their best for long term care, that they gave CCAs [Continuing Care Assistants] a raise outside their contract,” said CUPE Long Term Care Coordinator Tammy Martin. “But long-term care is more than just CCAS. It’s LPNs [Licensed Practical Nurses], it’s support services, it’s an entire team that keeps each home running. Without even one of them, everything falls apart. We need a contract that acknowledges all of long-term care, not just one classification, and that’s what we’re fighting for.”

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