Insult to injury: N.L. contract demand outrageous, nurses say
The Newfoundland and Labrador Nurses' Union says a government bargaining strategy to strip some injured workers of their jobs crosses the line.
The nurses union is organizing a membership vote — with a recommendation to reject — on a final government offer, which includes a hefty wage increase, but also two contract demands that the union says are unacceptable.
One would allow employers to pay a newly hired nurse more than peers in the same area, so long as the post meets the criteria of being hard to fill, while the second — known as extended earnings loss — would see a nurse lose his or her job two years after being deemed permanently disabled.
Bernie Power, a St. John's nurse who was injured twice on the job, said the change could prove to be disastrous for injured nurses.
Power, who is working full time again, once suffered a ruptured disc in her back when she caught a patient who was falling from a broken hospital bed. After the incident, she was on temporary extended earnings leave, while she went through treatments, surgeries and rehabilitation.
Power said when a doctor deemed she was permanently disabled, she would not accept staying away from the workplace. Knowing she had a job waiting for her was a good motivation to get well, she said.
"I love nursing," Power said.
"I love my job, and it meant a lot that I could go back and be a productive part of society."
But Finance Minister Jerome Kennedy said the new concession is necessary to help health-care managers deal with scores of vacant positions in institutions across the province.
"We need to fill these permanent positions, and the only way we can do this [is to] set a date," Kennedy said.
Nurses have until May 8 to decide whether to accept or reject the government offer. Both government and union officials say it appears increasingly likely that a strike is imminent.
The union waged a nine-day strike against the provincial government in 1999, before the house of assembly legislated members back to work.