HALIFAX: Official Opposition Leader Claudia Chender with NSNDP Seniors and Long Term Care Critic Rod Wilson urged the Houston government to immediately return to the bargaining table, and support striking long-term care workers so they can get back to work.
Three thousand workers have been on strike in communities across our province since April 13. Workers have been without a contract since October 2023.
“Nova Scotians know how hard long-term care staff work. These workers cook, clean and take care of our parents and grandparents every day.
“People want to see the workers who care for their loved ones supported and paid fairly,” said Chender.
“This government refuses to sit down and make an agreement with long term care workers so that they can get back to work. Nova Scotians know that is the wrong approach.”
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“People gave the Houston government the benefit of the doubt and trusted that health care was being fixed.
“But it’s not clear how this government expects to fix health care, and make sure seniors have the support they need to live in dignity when they’re ignoring the workers who provide that care.
“The workers we talk to aren’t asking for much, just a fair deal and a government that supports their work. It’s well past time to get back to the table.”
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The Houston government has spent billions of dollars on health care infrastructure but staff and residents of long term care are being ignored.
Chender was joined Thursday by CUPE Nova Scotia President Alan Linkletter and CUPE Long Term and Community Care Committee Chair Christa Sweeney.
“Long term care workers want to get back to their work and the residents they care for so deeply, but this government’s refusal to get back to the table has made that impossible.
“The sector can’t continue to run on the backs of exhausted people who spend their evenings debating whether to pay the power bill or buy groceries,” said Sweeney.
“They need a living wage, pure and simple, and, to get that, we need to get back to the table and bargain a deal that actually works.”
