{"id":606238,"date":"2026-04-15T18:21:41","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T18:21:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/606238\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T18:21:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T18:21:41","slug":"they-are-not-having-it-2200-long-term-care-workers-go-on-strike-in-nova-scotia-halifax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/606238\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018They are not having it\u2019: 2,200 long-term care workers go on strike in Nova Scotia – Halifax"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than 2,200 workers from 22 long-term care homes hit the picket lines in Nova Scotia on Monday morning.<\/p>\n

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The striking workers are represented by CUPE and include continuing care assistants, licensed practical nurses and support service providers, such as dietary and laundry staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe public is very much behind us. You see it in the cars driving by, everyone\u2019s honking, you see it,\u201d said Christa Sweeney from CUPE\u2019s long-term and community care committee while outside Saint Vincent\u2019s Nursing Home in Halifax.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re looking for a living wage. We asked for $5 an hour increase for all classifications.\u201d<\/p>\n

Striking workers are asking for a flat $5-per-hour increase for all classifications. They say the province\u2019s current offer would bring its lowest-paid members to a bit more than $21 per hour, which they point out is hurting retention efforts.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIf you\u2019re working full-time, you should be able to afford rent and groceries, but some people have to live out of their cars,\u201d said Ty Loppie, a long-term care worker and union spokesperson.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tN.S. long-term care workers prepare to strike as wage negotiations with province break down\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The agreement between the province and CUPE-represented workers expired in 2023.<\/p>\n

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Barbara Adams, the province\u2019s long-term care minister, says the government\u2019s four-year offer would increase the wages of some workers by 24 per cent.<\/p>\n

She adds the offer comes with retroactive pay back to 2023 and contains a 70 per cent increase in shift and weekend premiums. There\u2019s also new funding to expand the number of workers eligible to enrol in a defined benefit pension plan.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis offer is 12 to 24 per cent \u2026 That\u2019s the equivalent of $55 million that government is prepared to offer each additional year for that four-year period of time. CUPE is asking for up to a 41 per cent increase,\u201d said Adams.<\/p>\n

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According to the minister, 27 other unionized long-term care homes have already accepted the same offer.<\/p>\n

CUPE\u2019s long-term care co-ordinator, Kim Cai, says both sides exchanged proposals in August but there has been little negotiation since.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re bringing in our whole committees for the government to walk in and pass us this exact same deal and no discussions,\u201d said Cai.<\/p>\n

CUPE expects staff from other homes to join the strike in the days ahead since their union represents about 5,000 long-term care workers provincewide.<\/p>\n

Representatives say they\u2019re ready to return to the bargaining table, so long as the province is ready to negotiate fairly.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur members have seen the package, we\u2019ve been very open with our members, and they are very clear \u2026 that they are not having it,\u201d said Sweeney.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, Adams says essential services will continue at long-term care homes through non-unionized staff.<\/p>\n

\u2014 With a file from The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than 2,200 workers from 22 long-term care homes hit the picket lines in Nova Scotia on Monday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":606239,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[49,48,84,392,228861],"class_list":["post-606238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-long-term-care-strike"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=606238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606238\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/606239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=606238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=606238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=606238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}