New contract signed for 4,500 N.B. nursing home workers
Union says agreement includes wage increases, brings wage parity with health-care workers
Thousands of New Brunswick nursing home workers have a new contract.
The New Brunswick Council of Nursing Home Unions signed a new collective agreement Wednesday with the New Brunswick Association of Nursing Homes. The council represents more than 4,500 employees at 52 homes across the province.
Sharon Teare, president of the council, celebrated the new agreement that she says brings wage parity with healthcare workers.
"This deal will help address the recruitment and retention issues plaguing the sector," Teare said in a news release. "This will mean better hands-on care for seniors."
The council represents licensed practical nurses, personal support workers, cooks, janitorial staff, and other workers in nursing homes.
The New Brunswick Association of Nursing Homes also celebrated the contract.
"This is a win-win for the sector and its employees, which will hopefully stabilize recruitment and retention for years to come," CEO Richard Losier said in a statement.
Teare said a tentative agreement was reached at the end of March and approved by union members in early April. The agreement covers from October 2022, when the previous contract expired, to June 2028.
It includes annual wage increases of more than one dollar an hour for each year of the agreement, according to a news release. Teare said it was achieved without concessions from workers.
Wages in the previous contract ranged from $18.72 to $32.85, depending on the job and time in the position.
While the agreement is with the nursing home association, the provincial government funds nursing home operations.
In the news release, Teare credited the Liberal provincial government, which took power last fall.
"Their role in bringing this deal across the finish line was essential," Teare said in the release.
Under the former Progressive Conservative government, talks had stalled. In 2023, union members held rallies, including one in Moncton, where workers described the wage offer put forward as insulting.
The event echoed one held four years earlier when union members voted overwhelmingly in favour of a strike. At the time, the province secured a court order blocking it from happening.
The legislature later passed amendments to the Essential Services in Nursing Homes Act that the union alleges was an unfair restriction on its ability to strike.
A legal challenge to that law was filed in 2023, and the case is still going on, Teare said Wednesday.
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