News Archives - CUPE Nova Scotia Long Term & Community Care Committee

Bargaining update: Government tables same offer

May 27, 2026

Your lead table bargaining team met with representatives of government and employers today, along with the province’s chief conciliation officer. After tabling our own amended offer, we were presented the same exact offer that was tabled on May 7th. After hours of discussion, government came back with a small addition of their own version of a previous union proposal around CCAs mentoring students.

This offer was unacceptable 20 days ago and it’s unacceptable now. Long term care workers deserve to be closer to the living wage in Nova Scotia—and this government is telling us again and again that they don’t agree. They are telling us they don’t believe we deserve to earn enough money to live on.

We are 7 weeks into our strike and the public, concerned family members, and the residents we care for all stand with us. They know we deserve better—even if government doesn’t.

Hearing that government is completely unwilling to move on striking workers’ wages the same day that four new ministers were appointed—meaning those four Nova Scotians just got a $63,250 raise—is as shocking as it is appalling.

The message that this sends is that they believe they deserve to be well compensated, while long term care workers struggle to make ends meet, pay our rent, and buy groceries.

At work, we are family; we are friends; we are support and care and stability. What we do is important. It is vital. We deserve wages that recognize the value of this work.

We know it may be frustrating to hear that we went back to the table and still could not achieve a tentative agreement. We are also frustrated. It is disappointing to come back to the table in good faith, with a new offer, and be told that the people on the other side are unwilling to move.

We will organize town halls to provide a more detailed update to the membership and advise of next steps. Please keep an eye on your email for further information.

In solidarity,
Your Lead Table Bargaining Team

Christa Sweeney, Chair of Long Term and Community Care Committee
Ashton Brown, Representing Cape Breton from Local 1485
Laura Stewart, Representing Central from Local 4919
Greg Williams, Representing Western from Local 5248
Janet Macdonald, President of Lead Table Local, CUPE 1082
Edwina Donovan, CUPE 1082
Dale Henneberry, CUPE 1082

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From Public Care Workers to the Public: An Open Letter to Nova Scotians

May 29, 2026May 26, 2026

As Chair of CUPE’s Long Term and Community Care Committee, I am accountable to 5,500 long term care workers across Nova Scotia. I am acutely aware that the decisions we make at the bargaining table impact not only the 3,600 workers on strike across Nova Scotia, but also the thousands of union members and non-unionized workers who will inevitably benefit from anything we achieve at the table.

There exists an understanding in collective bargaining that parties do not bargain in the press. That said, I believe engaging in public debate and discussion about the issues impacted by negotiations is important. We are public workers. We serve the public. Our wages are paid from public funds. Being open and honest with the communities we serve is something we’re in favour of.

However, spreading misinformation, confusing the public, and repeatedly calling for steps outside of the agreed bargaining processes is not how to negotiate, educate, or uphold democratic values. And that is exactly what the government is doing.

In public forums, we’ve seen promises to “fix healthcare” and commitments to the bargaining process. Behind closed doors, we’re hitting brick walls, and being given limitations to what we can negotiate—before we even get to the table.

Over the weekend, in an effort to push for a satisfactory end to this strike for both sides, CUPE suggested an outside mediator.

We specifically chose someone who:

was available over the weekend—at the government’s insistence,
has extensive experience mediating negotiations in the health care sector country-wide, and
has worked with the Government of Nova Scotia, upon their own request, in previous cases.

We were disappointed that, instead of a response to our suggestion, Minister Adams released the open letter claiming we had rejected an invitation to return the table. This is patently untrue. Not only is this a lie to her constituents in Eastern Passage, 165 of whom are on strike, but to those she represents province-wide—striking workers or not.

Even when the government finally responded to our mediation request—just last night—we were again disappointed to find that, instead of coming with the intent to negotiate, they were only interested in pushing forward their own agenda. They gave us stipulations, requiring that we disregard the Lead Table Protocol their own lawyer signed before bargaining began and violate our own constitution and established collective bargaining procedure by bringing an offer we don’t recommend to the membership.

We are not asking for luxury or special treatment. We are asking for the most basic respect for the work we do: a living wage.

We want to negotiate; we want to end this strike. Instead, we are wasting time battling Minister Adams and Premier Houston bargaining in the press and correcting their constant stream of misinformation—and blatant lies.

Our elected representatives in government are supposed to be accountable to Nova Scotians. Yet, week after week, we continue to see the same talking points in interviews, press conferences, and open letters. We’re told there is no room to move, that we’re asking for too much, that we’re unrealistic.

This isn’t just about paycheques. This is about the people of Nova Scotia. This is about working families and what they need to get by. This is about where they go when they retire, and the quality of care that our elderly deserve.

So, this is our open letter, this is our message to Nova Scotia—it’s the same message we’ve been saying for seven weeks: we want to see meaningful discussion at the bargaining table. We want to get a fair deal for the workers we represent, to end this strike, and to get back to the work we all love.

In solidarity,

Christa Sweeney
Chair, CUPE Long Term and Community Care Committee

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