LIVERPOOL – With thousands of long-term care workers in Nova Scotia entering their third week off the job, strikers say morale and community support are still high.
Stephanie Herman, who is a CCA at Queens Manor in Liverpool, said she and her 68 fellow members of Local 2648 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees would rather be at work.
“Everybody’s pretty cheery and, you know, making the best of a worst case,” Herman said Friday.
“We love our residents. We want to be there with them. Much rather be there with them than out in the cold.”
Herman said the province hasn’t made any new offers since the strike began and there’s no move to return to the bargaining table.
About 3,000 workers from 29 locals are on strike around Nova Scotia. They say their wages are the lowest in Atlantic Canada and the second-lowest in Canada.
Employees in every department, from food service workers to LPNs to physiotherapists, are on strike. Some make as little as $18.77 an hour. Nova Scotia’s minimum wage is $16.75.
The last contract with the Nova Scotia government expired in 2023.
Barbara Adams, minister of seniors and long-term care, repeated last week that she wants CUPE members to vote on the province’s last offer before workers voted to strike on April 13.
She says the province is offering raises of at least 12 per cent, with some jobs receiving up to 24 per cent more. That’s on top of a proposed increase in shift and weekend premiums to $4 an hour from $2.35 an hour.
She also points to free tuition and training for continuing care assistants, who also received a 23 per cent wage increase in 2022.
The union has worked out essential services agreements with each home to make sure residents still get proper care.
Herman said it’s been difficult to be on the picket line, while still working at the manor to ensure residents are properly cared for. But first, she said, employees want a fair deal from the province.
“We pretty much have no days off in terms of being at the manor first one day, and then we’re on the picket line the next day. Some people are doing night shift and then coming straight to the picket line. It’s very stressful. It’s hard. We’re tired. We’re ready to get back to work.”
By Rick Conrad, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Original Published on May 07, 2026 at 08:04
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