Long-term care workers in Shelburne could soon go on strike.
Last week, employees at Roseway Manor in Shelburne voted 100 per cent in favour of a strike mandate, according to a news release.
CUPE Local 3099 says workers are wrestling with a chronic staff shortage due to low wages and poor working conditions.
They say the province is trying to reduce the massive waitlist for long-term care, which has nearly 2,000 people on it, but they are focusing too much on using private companies to build and run new facilities.
Instead, CUPE says the government should invest in existing workers and long-term care homes.
The news release does not say when or if the workers may go on strike.
Tammy Martin, a long-term care coordinator with CUPE, says they have been trying to tell the government that they need help.
“More beds doesn’t mean less people on waitlists, it means more unused beds because we don’t have long term care workers to offer the care required. Already less than half of the current long term care homes can manage the recommended 4.1 hours of care per resident per day—how will adding more beds without changing the circumstances of the workers solve that issue?” Martin wrote in the news release.
