Following their rally in Westville on Wednesday, workers at Admiral and Whitehills Long Term Care Centres, represented by CUPE 1259, voted 99% in favour of a strike mandate citing low wages, poor recruitment and retention leading to working short, mandatory overtime, and unsafe working conditions as their main issues.
“The reality is that the rising cost of living and constant stress of working short is forcing people to leave long term care for other sectors and professions,” said CUPE 1259 President Dawn Vardy. “Most days, we’re assigned a unit to take care of, and we do it alone. That means we’re taking care of 15 residents, handling all their needs, alone. That’s not sustainable, and it’s certainly not beneficial to the residents who call our facilities their home.”
Poor retention of workers is one of the main issues CUPE long term care workers are trying to address in this round of bargaining. While the government has instituted programs to encourage people to work in health care and long term care more specifically, low wages and chronic understaffing force these workers to leave, making these programs ineffective.
“It doesn’t matter how many job fairs or signing bonuses people are offered if the job itself doesn’t pay enough for them to live. I have coworkers who are homeless, who live in their cars or sleep on friends’ couches, because they aren’t being paid enough to afford rent,” explained Vardy. “That’s why people keep leaving, or don’t come into long term care in the first place. And I don’t blame them. Loving what you do, and caring as much as we do, doesn’t put food on the table.”
Long term care workers in Nova Scotia are the lowest paid in Atlantic Canada, with several classifications, such as dietary aides and housekeepers, making under $20 an hour. Other health care sectors within the province, such as acute care, offer higher wages, which often results in long term care workers changing jobs so they can make ends meet.
“In my role as coordinator, I talk to long term care workers across the province and while individual circumstances differ, the central issue is the same: they can’t afford to live,” said CUPE Long Term Care Coordinator Tammy Martin. “We have support staff, some of our most vital classifications, working 2 or 3 jobs to make ends meet. We have CCAs taking on the responsibility of an entire floor of residents alone. Tell me, is that how you want your parents, your grandparents, to be taken care of? No? Well, neither do these workers, but the government has made this the only way.”