The New Brunswick Council of Nursing Home Unions, representing 35 locals and about 2400 workers, marched on the legislature December 13 to press the government for action on crushing workloads.
As part of the settlement to a recent strike, the Tories made a commitment to form a committee with union representation to study workload issues in nursing homes. “The committee has been formed but it’s too early in the process to say how it’s going,” says council president Michel Boudreau.
The demonstrating workers weren’t criticizing the committee, he said, merely reminding the Tories of the commitment to address workload issues in nursing homes.
“Being understaffed is pushing the nursing home workers to the edge of burnout, and that ultimately hurts the senior citizen residents of the homes,” says Boudreau. “The April budget has to show the kind of consideration seniors deserve, and that means more workers at all levels.”