NSGEU unhappy about government bringing in nurses from out of province

HALIFAX – The president of Nova Scotia’s largest public union is calling out the government after the NSGEU discovered over $900,000 was spent over 11 months bringing in nurses from B.C. to cover shortages at Halifax hospitals.

Jason MacLean said the nursing shortage should not have taken the government by surprise as nurses brought the issue up before.

“They went on strike because of shortages in the healthcare system and the government said there was no crisis, but we maintained there is a crisis,” said MacLean. “The government is hell-bent on paying people more money to do a quick-fix.”

The Nova Scotia Health Authority has said the move was made to keep beds open after, for instance, retirements led to shortages, but Maclean was not sold on the way they went about it.

“They could have focused on recruiting nurses and having more nurses here. What we need here and what was outlined by our nurses is there is a shortage and there were safety issues with that.”

According to the union, the travel nurses were paid more than double what Nova Scotia’s nurses are paid.

 

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