Local Groups Offer Support To Nursing Home Workers

The Coalition for Seniors and Nursing Home residents rights is standing behind nursing home workers in their effort to reach a contract with the provincial government.

Executive Director Cecile Cassista says this impacts 4100 workers in nursing homes across New Brunswick and it is unacceptable, “We are in a huge crisis and this is not just about the residents, it involves a lot of skilled people. Our aging population and our residents in these homes are going to be dramatically impacted in many, many ways.”

Cassista says these workers are passionate about their jobs, but they are severely underpaid, “They want to work with the families and work with the vulnerable, and they want to be a voice. But there is that barrier that is stopping them from doing it. They can’t do their jobs if they’re not going to get paid.”

Nursing home workers deserve real wage increases https://t.co/bLR2Mt5Z4v

— Cecile Cassista (@CassistaCecile) March 17, 2019

She says the government needs to step up and reach an acceptable deal with the workers.

“They need to concretely take this group of workers seriously and settle the collective agreement and deal with the retention . They have a shortage of over 300 workers. When you have a shortage of staff, it puts a lot of pressure on the workers themselves, “Cassista says.

Workers have been without a contract for 28 months.

They are planning another rally on Tuesday, over the noon hour, in front of the New Brunswick Legislature in Fredericton. This is when the provincial budget is being released.

The two sides were at the bargaingin table, but on Friday, a Mediators suggested they take a break.

Social Development Minister issued this statement, “The provincial government is open to funding wage increases to nursing home workers, but CUPE’s demands are out of line with what 24 public service bargaining groups, including hospital workers who do the same jobs, have accepted. Added up, these wage increases would cost New Brunswick taxpayers $28 million more each year. These wage demands represent $7,800 more per nursing home bed each year. To be clear, this would not be an investment in the system to increase care hours or improve conditions.”

Status update on CUPE nursing homeshttps://t.co/Y4p4diGMuo

— Government of NB (@Gov_NB) March 14, 2019