Long-term care workers at Pictou, N.S., nursing home vote to strike

Long-term care workers at the Maritime Odd Fellows Home in Pictou, N.S., have voted 100 per cent in favour of a strike mandate.

The long-term care workers, represented by CUPE 2330, cited low wages, issues with overtime and improvements needed to bereavement leave as the reasons for striking.

“Long term care, and senior care more generally, is such a vital part of our health care system,” said CUPE 2033 President Ralph Vickers in a news release. “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?”

The union says long-term care workers are among the lowest paid workers in Atlantic Canada, making under $20 per hour.

“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.”

CUPE 2033 says the wages for long-term care workers have not kept up with the cost of living, with some workers restoring to living in their vehicles due to being unable to afford rent.

According to its website, the Maritime Odd Fellows Home opened in 1923 and was the first home of its kind in the Maritimes. It has 47 beds.

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