CUPE is calling on the province to bring wages in long-term care up to the same levels as in health care.
Health care workers were among the more than 22,000 unionized workers who went on strike last fall.
They eventually ratified a five-year deal which, according to the union, included wage increases of more than 15 to 17 per cent.
CUPE Local 5446 president Hope Cyr said the need to bring long-term care wages up to par with health care is very real.
“Every week we are losing LTC workers, who, understandably, are going over to work in hospitals where they are better compensated,” said Cyr, whose union represents more than 550 Shannex care home workers.
Ahead of the October strike by health care workers, the New Brunswick Council of Nursing Home Unions (NBCNHU) called on the province to immediately raise wages for long-term care workers by $4 an hour.
President Sharon Teare said increasing the wages of nursing home workers would help address the “critical lack of staff.”
“We lobbied government to increase care hours, but residents are still not getting the minimum care hours guaranteed under the Nursing Homes Act because of the critical lack of staff,” said Teare.
