New Democratic Party Leader Jim Dinn will present to the House of Assembly a petition signed by nearly 1,400 CUPE service and support workers employed by Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services that demanded the Furey government meet to discuss solutions for ongoing recruitment and retention issues.
MEETING DETAILS:
1:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m., Thursday, November 7, 2024
House of Assembly
100 Prince Philip Dr, St. John’s
Despite previous attempts to engage in an ongoing dialogue with the Furey government, including an earlier petition with over 1,400 signatures, when service and support health care workers met with the Minister of Health John Hogan, they were told their concerns were âbargaining issues.â
âItâs funny to me that, when the Furey government decided to give select classifications raises outside of bargaining last year, it wasnât a âbargaining issue,ââ said CUPE Newfoundland and Labrador President Sherry Hillier. âIf the government is going to offer health care workers wage increases outside of bargaining, they need to treat all health care workers equally.â
Last summer, the Furey government offered a one-time wage increase to several health care classifications based on previous increases negotiated by the Registered Nurses Union (RNU) and Allied Health. These increases were added outside of normal bargaining in addition to what had been bargained by CUPE and NAPE earlier that year. Service and support health care workers were not invited to these discussions.
âWe presented our first petition to every MHA in the province, including the Premier, and even met with the new Minister of Health,â said Rowena Bourgeois, an accounting clerk working at Bay St. George Long Term Care Centre, âand yet our concerns were dismissed. Why are the concerns of doctors and nurses a priority, but ours are merely a bargaining issue?â
âAs an LPN, I spent years working alongside service and support staff and Iâve seen firsthand how vital they are to the effectiveness of our health care facilities,â said Hillier. âWithout them, our hospitals, our health care systems, donât work. End of story.â