N.S. long-term care residents, families urge province to raise offer on wages

Long-term care residents and their families are calling on the Nova Scotia government to raise its wage offer as a strike enters its eight week.

EASTERN PASSAGE — Bette Wilcox says that for years she’s had peace of mind knowing her husband, a resident at Ocean View Continuing Care Centre southeast of Halifax, is well cared for and supported at the facility.

But as services for residents have been reduced with 3,600 long-term care workers involved in a strike that’s now in its eighth week, she said she returns home from visiting him and cries.

“I go home, I sit, I cry, I worry. It’s dark,” Wilcox said Tuesday, speaking at a rally for striking long-term care workers in Eastern Passage, N.S.

More than 50 long-term care workers and supporters attended the rally hosted by the Canadian Union of Public Employees. The union represents employees at 36 care homes on picket lines. The strike began April 13.

Some long-term care residents and their family members, including Wilcox, urged the province to raise its offer on wages.

“Everybody’s deteriorating down here, and they (staff) need a raise. With the cost of gas, the cost of groceries … they deserve more money. They give their care, they give their love, they give compassion,” she added.

Carl Snyder, who lives at Ocean View and is president of the facility’s residents council, said Tuesday he doesn’t blame workers for the strike and staff deserve higher pay.

“They need a decent wage. I see them every day and they’re very active,” Snyder said of the staff, whom he credits with helping him recover after a long hospital stay before arriving at Ocean View.

The government’s latest offer that it made public included wage increases of between 12 and 24 per cent over four years. There’s also a 70 per cent increase in shift and weekend premiums. The offer includes money to set up a defined benefit pension plan for workers at facilities that don’t offer one.

CUPE has said the proposal would bring lowest-paid workers up to $23.57 an hour by 2028, which it says is below the current living wage in the province.

Snyder said that since the strike began, residents have less access to care, can no longer do recreational activities, and the quality of food has deteriorated.

“The food, since the strike, is terrible … I’m a diabetic and my sugar has gone way down … at night I have to call somebody to get something to drink in order to get my sugar back up. And a lot of residents here, they have no idea how to get around anymore,” he said.

The government and union say essential services are being maintained, but many physiotherapists, occupational therapists and recreational therapists are working reduced hours. Nurses, continuing-care assistants and housekeeping staff are also part of the strike.

Snyder said if he could speak directly to Premier Tim Houston and the minister of seniors and long-term care, he’d tell them to “get back to the table.”

“There’s no negotiating going on. The government comes out with a new contract, but it’s the same as the other one, the one before it … no additional moneys, and that’s what they need,” he said.

The Department of Seniors and Long-term Care said the government’s priority is the workers, resident and families affected by the strike, and that it is committed to fair collective bargaining.

“We believe a fair offer has been put forward, and now with additional amendments to address CUPE’s lowest-paid members,” it said in a statement.

Taylor Johnston, a CUPE spokesperson, said in an email the province tabled the “same offer” once again when they returned to bargaining last week, with one adjustment: the addition of student mentorship program with continuing-care assistants.

“Essentially the same offer for the sixth time,” Johnston said Tuesday.

She said no new bargaining dates have been scheduled. The employees’ collective agreements expired in October 2023.

Nova Scotia NDP Leader Claudia Chender said Houston and his government are out of touch and are failing to take care of those who need it most. “Families can’t afford to live on $18 an hour. And if wages stay depressed, then no one will sign up to do these jobs,” she said at Tuesday’s rally.

Chender said the government owes it to the province’s seniors and long-term care workers to return to the bargaining table. “These workers help our seniors and our family members live in dignity. They deserve support, they deserve respect, and they deserve a fair deal.”

Lyndsay Armstrong, The Canadian Press

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 2, 2026.