Province, nurses' union announce tentative agreement 4 days after strike vote

For the third time, the Higgs government has reached tentative agreements with two bargaining units representing thousands of nurses, nurse practitioners and nurse supervisors.

The province announced the deals with the New Brunswick Nurses Union on Friday morning.

Members rejected two earlier tentative agreements reached in July and September.

Last week, union members voted by a wide margin to give their leadership a strike mandate.

The two sides said in a news release that they would withhold details of the latest agreement until it is ratified. Union spokesperson Holly Crawford said she had no information on when a vote will be held.

Health Minister Dorothy Shepard said the quick agreement this week makes her hopeful that the government's new offer will be enough to win the support of members.

"I'm hopeful because of the short time frame it took to reach that third tentative agreement," she said.

"We have to have it ratified. With two rejected contracts we certainly want to see that ratification."

She said she didn't have a timeline on when nurses would vote.

"We value our nurses, and we want them to be satisfied, and I'm hoping that this contract will do that," Shephard said.

Earlier this week, Finance Minister Ernie Steeves said he hoped to have a deal by Christmas but couldn't guarantee it.

"We want our nurses to be satisfied," he said. "We want them to be back to work, and we want them to be happy to be there."

The province said the agreements cover 8,000 registered nurses, nurse practitioners, licensed practical nurses, nurse managers and nurse supervisors working in hospitals, public and community health programs, Ambulance NB and extra-mural programs. 

LPNs were added to the bargaining unit in October, after the two previous votes.