30th home set to join growing Nova Scotia long-term care strike

Nova Scotia’s long-term care strike is set to expand again, with another home preparing to join picket lines this weekend.

CUPE says more than 100 workers at the Lunenburg Home for Special Care have served 48-hour strike notice and could begin job action as early as Saturday.

If that happens, it would become the 30th CUPE local on strike in the province-wide dispute.

The union says roughly 3,000 workers are now involved in strike action at long-term care homes across Nova Scotia.

As the walkout stretches deeper into a second week, some families with loved ones in affected homes say they are growing concerned about the impact on residents.

In Cape Breton, one woman told our newsroom her mother-in-law living with Alzheimer’s has struggled without familiar staff during the strike.

CUPE says it remains ready to resume bargaining.

“We are ready to go back to the table, and we have made that clear since day one of this strike,” said Christa Sweeney, chair of CUPE’s Long Term and Community Care Committee.

However, the province says no negotiations are currently scheduled.

Long Term Care Minister Barb Adams said Thursday the government wants CUPE to present the current offer directly to members for a vote.

“There are no talks scheduled. We are expecting CUPE to take the offer to their members and to allow them to have a say,” Adams said.

Adams says the offer includes wage increases of 12 to 24 percent, a 70 percent increase in shift premiums, retroactive pay averaging $3,000 per employee and pension improvements.

CUPE has argued wages, staffing levels and working conditions still need to be addressed through bargaining.