Higgs Addresses Nursing Home Dispute In Saint John Speech

Premier Blaine Higgs connected the nursing home dispute and the looming workforce shortage during a speech in Saint John on Friday.

He says everyone is struggling to find workers with 120,000 people retiring over the next 10 years.

In the nursing home dispute, Higgs says they have to address sick time and absenteeism with workers missing an average of 18 days a year.

“We have a situation with the skill set in the nursing homes. We don’t have enough nurses. We could look at the licensed practical nurse structure and the personal service worker structure. We need to identify how we change that skill set to provide the service we must but, do it in a different manner.” Higgs said in a speech to the Regional Chamber.

Premier Higgs speak of workforce challenges.
He also addresses the nursing home workers dispute. #nbpoli #saintjohn pic.twitter.com/Js7PG0oKpl

— Tamara Steele (@tamarasteele1) April 5, 2019

Higgs says they will deal with the nursing home issue because they must but his government is not making any decisions based on tomorrow but on next year and ten years from now.

The Premier says it’s not enough to just talk about the wage structure.

“The deal was there was a 4 per cent increase that was being provided. Every other union, 25 unions have taken this, this was the last one and they said ‘no, we don’t want it’. They shifted their goal last summer to 20 per cent.” Higgs said.

Social Development Minister Dorothy Shephard says the mediator has not called off talks so she considers them still negotiating.