Workers from Celtic Court Nursing Home in Nova Scotia, represented by CUPE 4965, voted 93% in favour of a strike mandate last week, joining their fellow long-term care workers from over a half dozen other facilities province wide.
“Every day, we come into work and do our absolute best to make our residents feel at home. We’re their caregiver, their friend, and sometimes even their family,” explained CUPE 4965 President Patsy Campbell. “We do this because we love our job and we care, but the reality is that care doesn’t pay our bills, it doesn’t put food on the table or pay our rent, and the wage stagnation in this job has made it almost impossible to make ends meet.”
CUPE 4965 is part of the coordinated bargaining effort involving CUPE long-term care facilities across the province which is aiming to address the poor wages that have plagued the sector and made recruitment and retention efforts a challenge.
“People don’t like to talk about money, and I get it. Everyone is struggling right now. No one is escaping this cost-of-living crisis,” admitted CUPE Long-Term Care Coordinator Tammy Martin. “But the reality is that we need to talk about money because if no one does, nothing will change. These workers are the people who take care of our most vulnerable, of our elders, and that deserves better wages—not chronic understaffing and mandatory overtime.”