Officials with the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union say they want health-care workers to have all the information related to a strike vote.
Jason MacLean, the president of the NSGEU, says the health care bargaining unit is made up of anyone involved in direct patient care who is not a nurse or a doctor; he was in the Quad Counties to meet with members April 16.
MacLean tells The Hawk local members wanted more details on talks.
“A lot of questions were pertaining to the collective agreement and provisions they currently have in their collective agreement,” he says. “A lot of people want to know what is it they’re going to lose or what is that risk of losing- we went step-by-step through it to explain what it is they could lose.”
MacLean says they hope to work with the employer to determine a proper wage scale and establish parameters on mobility; employees could be moved throughout the Quad Counties.
“The issue that lies there is, somebody could be in Port Hawkesbury and be moved to go to St. Peter’s, or moved to go to Antigonish, or even moved to be put in Yarmouth for a week (or) two weeks at a time,” he says. “(That) doesn’t help work-life balance.”
MacLean says employees want a fair deal, but that isn’t the case at this point.
He says it seems members will vote in favour of a strike.
Voting opened April 23; it closes April 30.