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HALIFAX — Family of long-term care residents in Nova Scotia say the nearly month-long strike in the sector has meant fewer baths, more falls and dietary adjustments for their loved ones.
Chris Driscoll, whose mother is in St. Vincent’s Nursing Home in Halifax, says employees working under essential services agreements are doing all they can to keep up care, but families are still plugging the holes. His family is trying to have someone at the home for meal times, bringing in additional food and drink because his mother needs help eating and is no longer getting high-protein pudding as a supplement.
“Residents are paying to be there, but the residents’ children, who still work full-time, also have to show up more to cover the gaps,” Driscoll said in a text message to The Canadian Press on Friday.
Twenty-two long-term care homes across the province represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees went on strike April 13 with nurses, continuing-care assistants, housekeeping staff, physiotherapists and recreational therapists among those participating. More homes have joined the strike over the last month, with Chester’s Shoreham Village, about 50 kilometres west of Halifax, becoming the 32nd on Friday.
CUPE says more than 3,100 workers are now involved, with two more homes in Cape Breton set to join the strike next week. In Nova Scotia, the government licenses and provides funding to private operators who deliver long-term care services.
When the strike began, the government said it was offering pay increases of at least 12 per cent over four years with some workers getting a 24 per cent raise over that period. The offer, retroactive to 2023, included a 70 per cent increase in shift and weekend premiums, and money for a defined benefit pension plan.
Kim Cail, long-term care co-ordinator for CUPE, says there’s no question the strike is impacting care. She says the union has negotiated increases to base staffing levels over the course of the strike.
“We’ve seen in the past couple of weeks the employers coming back and looking for additional staff, especially those that were deemed non-essential by the employers in the first place, because of the frequent falls and the need for having recreation for the mental stimulation for the residents,” Cail said in an interview Friday.
The union and government met Thursday with bargaining extending into the early morning hours without a deal, said Cail.
Provincial officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday.
Cail said the union offered two proposals that included lower wage packages. Meanwhile, she said the province raised its wage offer slightly, and tried to tack an extra two years onto the deal. Cail said the government proposal would have seen some support workers making $23 an hour by the end of the contract in October 2029, which still wouldn’t be enough for a living wage.
“They’re way below the poverty level now, let alone us negotiating a six-year agreement that will still see them way below the poverty level,” she said.
Driscoll says he supports the hard work the long-term care workers do and challenged officials to take a walk in their shoes.
“I think that the minister and the premier need to do a 12-hour shift in these places to see what these (workers) actually have to do,” he said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 8, 2026.
Devin Stevens, The Canadian Press
