Proving that unions can stop efforts to make workers pay for an economic crisis that was not of their creation, CUPE members were successful in defending their hard-earned right to wage parity and their right to strike.
(see prior coverage: Global Issues tested as strike looms in Nova Scotia)
The Nova Scotia provincial government had argued that the union's wage demands, based on maintaining parity with non-rural areas, was not possible due to budget deficits in the climate created by the current crisis. Karen MacKenzie, president of CUPE Local 2525, which represents basically all primary health-care workers within the hospitals, responded by saying "he (Premier Dexter) is not going to balance his budget on the backs of Nova Scotia health-care workers. That’s just not happening.”
When the union decided to go on strike, politicians in the Conservative party questioned their right to strike. When their party was in power, they had attempted to pass legislation that would deny health workers that right.
The union was undeterred. Picket lines went up at 6:00 am on 18 January, as had been announced by the union well in advance of the strike deadline.
The action involved 4,100 health care workers. A total of 33 hospitals were affected --mainly rural hospitals across Nova Scotia--, outside the Halifax area. However, the walkout was expected to put Halifax hospitals under heavy pressure, as patients rom outlying areas would seek attention there.
The strike ended after just two hours, when a tentative settlement was reached at approximately 7:30 am and the CUPE locals informed their members across the province to take the lines down.
The deal is being recommended for acceptance by the union, after it achieved its major objectives in bargaining. Ratification meetings will take place within the next week or so and CUPE members will vote on the package that was reached after a marathon round of bargaining that lasted 68 hours.
CUPE Acute Care Co-ordinator Wayne Thomas says, “We are very pleased that our strike issue of wage parity has been addressed and that our members are back at work today, taking care of the health care needs of Nova Scotians."
“We are disappointed, to say the least, that we had to take strike action after giving our employers and the provincial government 12 days notice of a strike deadline and all kinds of time to reach a negotiated settlement,” says Thomas.
“I’m sure our members are going to be quite pleased, quite pleased,” CUPE spokesperson John McCracken added. “I think the whole thing just reminded people that you can’t take these things for granted, (wage parity was) something you’ve had for 10 years and we had to fight to keep it.”
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