HALIFAX -- The union president representing nurses at Nova Scotia's largest health authority says they are ready to defy back-to-work legislation.
Joan Jessome, president of the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union, says the nurses will go on strike if Stephen McNeil's Liberal government brings in such a law.
Jessome says mediated talks between the union, which represents about 2,400 registered nurses, and the Capital District Health Authority have reached an impasse.
She says she hopes a negotiated solution can be reached by April 3, when the nurses are in a legal strike position, but adds that she is losing confidence that the government will compromise on the union's request to hire more nurses.
The union has said it wants nurse-to-patient ratios, something it says would improve patient safety.
But Capital Health says there is no evidence that shows mandated registered nurse-to-patient ratios guarantee improved patient safety.
The nurses primarily work at four places in the Halifax area: the QEII Health Sciences Centre, Nova Scotia Hospital, East Coast Forensic Hospital and Public Health Services.
The health authority has said that Local 97 of the government employees union has agreed to maintain full staffing levels for certain services, including the QEII emergency department, dialysis unit, Nova Scotia Cancer Centre, veterans services and intensive care units.
Talks with the mediator started Friday, a day after Capital Health said it would take legal action if its nurses opt for mass resignations in the event they are legislated back to work by the provincial government.
McNeil has said back-to-work legislation is a possibility if there is a strike.
Earlier this month, 420 striking home-care workers were ordered back to work after McNeil's government passed essential service legislation.
