Maplestone Enhanced Care Workers Vote to Strike

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Long term care workers from Maplestone Enhanced Care in Halifax, represented by Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) 1416, held strike votes last week with 98% of those who voted casting ballots in favour of a strike vote.

“Issues with long term care have been making the news for years,” said CUPE 1416 President Tammy Steeves. “Workers, the families of residents, and industry experts have been sounding the alarm that the workers are crumbling under the ever-increasing number of residents, specialized needs, and understaffing. The government has claimed they want to fix it, that they’re working on it. Why does ‘working on it’ never mean paying the workers what they deserve?”

In 2022, the Houston government gave Continuing Care Assistants (CCAs), only one classification of long term care workers, a much-deserved raise, making them the highest paid in Atlantic Canada. That designation, however, has since been lost as Nova Scotia has once again sunk to the bottom. Other classifications, such as support services and Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs) didn’t receive the same treatment and remain the lowest paid in Atlantic Canada.

“I don’t know about you, but I want the people responsible for taking care of my parents to make more than the basic living wage. Why? Because they’re the people who make our family members feel at home when they can no longer be there and to me, that’s worth more than I can say,” said CUPE Long Term Care Coordinator Tammy Martin.

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