Striking N.S. long-term care workers, province to return to bargaining table

A CUPE picket line outside Glasgow Hall in Dartmouth, N.S., on May 8, 2026. (Jonathan MacInnis/CTV Atlantic)

Long-term care workers are heading back to the bargaining table with the Nova Scotia government.

Thousands of Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) members have been on strike in the province since April 13.

Glen Haven Manor in New Glasgow is the 36^th facility to join the picket line.

The union has said its major focus is improved wages for workers.

The government says it has offered the following:

• wage increases between 12 and 24 per cent over four years, retroactive pay to 2023
• increased evening and weekend premiums and access to a defined benefit pension
• an additional $2 per hour beginning in 2027 for those earning less than $23 an hour
• an additional 1.5 per cent increase for all workers next year.

Earlier this month, both sides agreed to resume talks, but they soon broke off.

CUPE says employers’ representatives and government, with assistance from a conciliation officer, will join the latest discussions, which are set to start Wednesday.

“We agreed to go back to the table in the hopes that, this time, the government will come with an offer that brings all long term care workers closer to a living wage instead of the same tired deal they’ve been presenting over and over, both at the table and in the media,” said long term and community care committee chair Christa Sweeney in a statement.

CUPE represents workers at 52 long-term care homes in the province.

The full list of the 36 long-term care homes on strike includes:

• Melville Lodge in Halifax
• Admiral and White Hills Long Term Care Centres in Halifax
• Maplestone Enhanced Care in Halifax
• St. Vincent’s Nursing Home in Halifax
• Shoreham Village in Chester
• Grand View Manor in Berwick
• Alderwood Rest Home in Baddeck
• Magnolia Continuing Care Centre in Enfield
• Richmond Villa in St. Peter’s
• Lunenburg Home for Special Care in Lunenburg
• Northside Community Guest Home in North Sydney
• Harbourstone Enhanced Care in Sydney River
• Shiretown Nursing Home in Pictou
• Ivey’s Terrace Nursing Home in Trenton
• Bayside Home in Barrington
• Maple Hill Manor in New Waterford
• Seaview Manor in Glace Bay
• Maritime Odd Fellows in Pictou
• Valley View Manor in Stellarton
• Ocean View Continuing Care in Eastern Passage
• Bisset Court in Cole Harbour
• Glasgow Hall in Dartmouth
• Queen’s Manor in Liverpool
• Villa St. Joseph-du-Lac in Dayton
• Roseway Manor in Shelburne
• Celtic Court in Membertou
• The Birches in Musquodoboit Harbour
• Port Hawkesbury Nursing Home in Port Hawkesbury
• St. Anne Nursing Care Centre in Arichat
• Ryan Hall in Bridgewater
• Surf Lodge in Lockeport
• The Meadows in Yarmouth
• Ivy Meadows in Beaver Bank
• Inverary Manor in Inverness
• Foyer Père Fiset in Chéticamp
• Glen Haven Manor in New Glasgow

With files from The Canadian Press

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