100% of long-term care workers who voted at Maritime Odd Fellows Home, represented by CUPE 2330, have voted in favour of a strike mandate, citing low wages, issues with overtime, and much needed improvements to bereavement leave, as their outstanding issues.
“Long-term care, and senior care more generally, is such a vital part of our health care system,” explained CUPE 2033 President Ralph Vickers. “It allows seniors to make a home in a place where they receive the care and support they need, rather than being left in acute care beds or struggling on their own. We are needed, the government has even deemed us essential, so my question is why won’t the government pay us like we are?”
Long-term care workers in Nova Scotia are the lowest paid in Atlantic Canada, with several classifications, such as dietary aides and seamstresses, making under $20 an hour. Wages have not kept up with the cost of living and have left many long-term care workers living paycheque to paycheque with some even resorting to living in their vehicles because they can’t afford rent.
“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 two or three 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.”