Long-term care home strikes mounting as no progress made
Posted Apr 24, 2026 12:43:31 PM.
Last Updated Apr 24, 2026 01:03:25 PM.
Workers at another Nova Scotia long-term care facility will be hitting the picket line as early as Saturday.
CUPE Local 4919 said over 100 workers at the Lunenburg Home for Special Care have served their 48-hour notice to hit the picket lines
As the long-term care worker strike drags on in the province, a new report says the dispute reflects years of ignored evidence.
Dr. Rebecca Casey, sociology professor at Acadia University, told Nova Scotia Today with Dan Ahlstrand that workers were reporting the system was already strained, even during the pandemic.
“They told us a lot that these problems with low wage, with overwork, with burnout, the stress, came long before the pandemic and had some even quoted (saying) they’ve been in the sector for 20 years and it’s been this way,” she said.
Meantime, Dr. Christine Saulnier, director of the Centre for Policy Alternatives NS, said of the report, with Nova Scotia’s population aging rapidly, waitlists for long-term care will continue to grow despite the government’s promises to expand the sector.
On Thursday, Barbara Adams, Nova Scotia’s long-term care minister, told reporters there are no plans for a return to the bargaining table.
“We are asking CUPE to take the offer to their members to ensure that every member, who’s out on strike, knows in fact that there is a 12 to 24 percent pay raise on the table, a 70 percent increase in the shift premium, retroactive pay with an average of $3,000 per employee, as well as a defined pension benefit for anyone who didn’t have that in their facility already,” said Adams.
