The Nova Scotia Nurses’ Union wants licensed practical nurses to have the same acknowledgement and compensation no matter where they work in the province.
NSNU President Janet Hazelton says the disparities go back to the days of the former health districts and different unions.
She says a small group of about 400 LPNs in the former Capital District at the VG site recently received a large monetary award and recognition of an expanded role resulted from a grievance they filed in 2014.
” Their agreement had a process that, if their job changed substantially over a period of time, they could go through a process to have it evaluated to see if that required better or more compensation.”
Hazelton says it’s a great first step but the government now needs to do the same for all LPNs.
“The whole principal of job parity withing the healthcare sector is very, very important and, in our view, applies to everybody. We cannot have LPNs in this province working in ANY job, not making the same money as LPNs in Metro. It’s not fair.”
Hazelton says they are very pleased with that but now the government needs to offer the same package to all other LPNs, from various unions, around the province, in the name of wage parity.
The difference in wages can be a deciding factor in where to work, especially for groups that depend on LPNs, such as long-term care homes and the VON.
“Our concer is recruitment and retention to rural Nova Scotia. We want to make sure that wage parity, that we’ve always had, stays in this province in order to secure healthcare workers stay and work where they want to be.”
Hazelton says they expressed their concerns to the government this (Wednesday) morning, asking them to immediately apply this wage increas to all LPNs, and are waiting for a reply.
