Health authorities bracing for possible strike by N.L. nurses

A strike by nurses in Newfoundland and Labrador would make already lengthy wait times longer, say the province's health officials — and the union says the offer on the table is unacceptable.

"If it's a service that relies directly on nurses, there may be delays, for example, in our emergency department," said Barbara Molgaard Blake, a vice-president at the Labrador Grenfell Health Authority.

The Newfoundland and Labrador Nurses’ Union has been trying for months to hammer out a deal for its 5,000 nurses and has put the province's latest offer — which the government calls its final offer — to a vote.

Even though more than 40 per cent of nurses are designated essential and would have to continue to work during a strike, health authorities say losing more than half their nurses could have serious consequences.

"If there are emergencies in the community, if we have really bad weather, more accidents, more injuries — that can really impact the services we need to provide. So it's really difficult to predict," said Heather Hanrahan, director of human resources consulting at Eastern Health.

The province's four health authorities are readying contingency plans because, despite a wage offer that is acceptable to most nurses — including a compounded 21.5 per cent raise, in line with what most other public sector unions have accepted — the union is recommending they reject the offer.

The union objects to two sections of the proposed four-year-contract:

• A "market adjustment measurement" that would allow the government to pay new nurses more than nurses who are already working — even if they're doing the same work.
• A change to loss of earnings benefits that would allow the province to terminate nurses who become permanently disabled on the job, after two years of receiving earnings loss benefits.

The market adjustment is clearly unfair, said union president Debbie Forward, and nurses won't stand for it.

"It's not a simple issue. It's a huge issue for us. A huge issue," said Forward.  

The union points to the emergency room at the Health Sciences Centre in St. John's, where nurses have complained for years of dangerously low staff levels. 

Eastern Health tried to recruit 22 nurses last month and the union says no one applied.

Forward says it would be completely unacceptable if the government paid 22 new recruits more than nurses who stayed in the department and worked through the shortage.

"I'd say I'm out of here. I'm out of here, right. I've given everything to keep this department running and this is the lack of respect I'm shown for it," said Forward.  

Provincial Finance Minister Jerome Kennedy wasn't available for an interview Tuesday but he has defended the market adjustment measure before in dealing with "hard-to-fill" nursing jobs. He said those positions must be filled to ensure people in every part of the province receive high-quality medical care. 

The union says nurses will finish their vote on the government's offer by early May. They must give a week's notice if they intend to strike.