Acute care nurses ask for mediation after contract talks stall

Unions representing more than 10,000 acute care nurses have sought mediation after contract talks with the Nova Scotia health authority and the IWK Health Center stalled Thursday.

In a press release, representatives of the Council of Nursing Unions say they are seeking a new contract that will improve work-life issues for their members and provide competitive wages and benefits.

The council is made up of representatives from the Nova Scotia Nurses’ Union, CUPE, Unifor, and the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union.

“We all know there’s a nurse shortage. It’s not just in Nova Scotia, it’s all over the country,” said Janet Hazelton, president of the nurses’ union.

“So we need wages and benefits that will keep us competitive. Those are the things nurses told us they needed in our new collective agreement, and so we hope we can achieve this.”

The bargaining unit includes registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and practice nurses who work in hospitals, satellite clinics and public health in the acute and community care sectors of the province.

The group has been without a contract since November 2020.

The council held 29 negotiation sessions with nurse representatives and their employers – which Hazelton said were productive – but negotiations stalled on Thursday when they failed to reach an agreement.

“We switched to a different process where we talked more about money and raises and raises… and we just hit a spot where we had a deadlock,” Hazelton said.

The unions will now submit a plea for conciliation in the hope that a solution can be reached, she said.

“We all want a preliminary agreement. We all want a contract that nurses are happy with,” she said. “Everyone has that agenda, so that’s what I’m hoping for, that’s where we’ll land once the mediation starts.”