Nursing Home Workers Expected To Return To Negotiating Table

Still no end in sight to the nursing home workers dispute, but they are expected to return to the bargaining table today.

The workers were in a position to strike yesterday, but the province was granted a temporary stay order for ten days, preventing them from walking off the job.

President of the New Brunswick Labour Federation Patrick Colford says negotiations could prove to be a waste of time for the workers, “The Social Development Minister made it fairly clear to me anyway, that they’re not going to come to the table with anything more than what they have already come with. Nursing home workers voted over 90 per cent in favour of strike action which is basically a message to this government that what they have brought to the table isn’t good enough.”

Social Development Minister Dorothy Shephard said in a statement over the weekend, that she supports the collective bargaining process and workers ability to strike, but the health and safety of nursing home residents is her primary concern.

Colford says that wouldn’t happen, “The spin that nursing home workers were going to walk off the job in mass and leave the seniors very vulnerable, just isn’t true. So, the move that the government was very heavy handed and truthfully, I don’t think there was a need for it.”

There are 46 nursing homes, and around 4100 workers are affected.

Some of the sticking points include wages and working conditions.

“In the last twenty years, in a lot of cases, workers are working two jobs and depending on food banks. No one who works should have to rely on food banks and other forms of assistance, just to get by,” Colford says.

Nursing home workers have been without a contract for over 28 months.