one group of long-term care workers in nova scotia may have to return to picket line
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a group of long-term care workers walk a picket line in dartmouth in april.
tim krochak
/
chronicle herald
long-term care workers at valley view villa in stellarton are faced with the prospect of another strike after a new round of negotiations hit a wall this week.
thousands of unionized nursing home and residential care employees from across the province returned to the job about six weeks ago after nine weeks on picket lines.
the canadian union of public employees (cupe) lead table negotiated a broad settlement on june 7 with the nova scotia government for members from 37 facilities to end the work stoppage, but there were a handful of locals that had separate unresolved issues that needed to be ironed out, either with the province or with their individual employers.
why this negotiation is different
workers at valley view villa have been trying to tie up their loose ends in a followup round of bargaining with management over the past six weeks, but talks have hit a discouraging stalemate. high-crest enterprises is the private organization that runs valley view villa and cupe explained in a news release how they are “not bound to the agreements made at the provincial level as they are not represented by health association nova scotia (hans) like most other homes.”
the union also described in the release how the “employer continues to demand the workers take concessions, which would mean accepting terms worse than their current contract. these concessions include changes to how employees earn vacation time, which could result in reduced vacation, and changes to the health insurance coverage.”
“we spent weeks fighting alongside our fellow long-term care workers province-wide fighting for better wages, but now that the lead table has settled, our employer refuses to settle until we agree to accept terms worse than what we have now,” betty best, the president of the valley view villa local, said in the release.
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“that’s a concession and these workers aren’t going to take that.”
cupe did not offer more specifics on the areas of disagreement, and attempts to gather details from management at high-crest enterprises were unsuccessful. but cupe long-term care co-ordinator kim cail did express disappointment that this situation has deteriorated.
“only hans homes are bound to the lead table protocol, but in the past, all employers accepted the same deal as it means keeping the wages and benefits the same across the province no matter what long-term care home someone works in,” cail said in the release.
cupe did not provide a timeline for a potential return to the picket line.
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