Talks still underway as Capital Health strike deadline approaches

Talks between Capital Health and the union for more than 3500 employees are still underway, less than 48 hours before a strike deadline.

The two sides returned to the bargaining table over the weekend after the government appointed a mediator to help resolve the dispute.

The negotiations are under a media blackout, so there’s no word on how well they’re going or if there’s been any progress.

The workers want a 5.1 per cent raise in the first year to match an arbitrator’s award for registered nurses, and cost of living
increases for the remaining years of a three-year contract.

The health authority has offered an annual one per cent pay increase for three years.

If a strike does happen, the health authority has said the system will be crippled in a matter of days.

An agreement is in place to provide emergency services, but any procedures deemed “non-essential” by a doctor will be suspended for the duration of the strike.

That’s causing some concern for patients awaiting specialized care, such as Halifax resident Jamie Young’s mother. His mother is scheduled for exploratory cancer surgery on May 4, and he says it will likely be cancelled.

Although the procedure is considered non-essential, Young says the pending disruption is nerve-wracking because there’s no indication how long his mother might have to wait.

“If these people go on strike for who knows how long, and that procedure is put on hold, it puts my mother’s life at risk and it puts every cancer patient’s life at risk,” he said.

Nova Scotia Government and General Employees’ Union president Joan Jessome says she feels for Young and his family, but emphasized that essential procedures are protected by the emergency services agreement.

“They’re in place to make sure that there’s no loss of life,” she said. “To be quite honest, we’ve been very generous with the quota of staff inside.”

Young says health care should be declared an essential service, noting there’s no alternative provider for people like his mother.

He says, as a private-sector employee, he finds it hard to sympathise with the unionized workers.

“They’re fighting for what they consider to be a fair wage, based on what another unionized group got last fall,” he said. “That’s the wrong attitude to take, I think, when they’re playing with people’s lives.”

But Jessome says the right to strike is essential, and said health care workers should be compensated for the difficult jobs they do.

“We don’t do this very often. It’s been 11 years since there’s been a dispute over Capital Health. The workers have a right to stand up for themselves and to expect to be treated fairly, and that’s what they’re doing.”

The union represents workers in a range of jobs, including nurses, occupational therapists, medical lab technicians and social workers.

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