N.S. nurses to be paid 12-21% more under new tentative deal, unions say
CBC
Ten thousand nurses in Nova Scotia can expect substantial salary increases if they vote to accept a five-year contract offer negotiated with the Houston government.
The tentative agreement, announced Friday by the unions that represent nurses in Nova Scotia, is retroactive to 2020 and expires in 2025. It applies to nurses represented by the Nova Scotia Nurses' Union, CUPE, Unifor and the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union.
According to details supplied by the unions, nurse practitioners will receive a 21 percent increase in salary by the end of the contract, registered nurses will see raises ranging from 15 to 21 percent, and licensed practical nurses will see their wages increase 12 to 17 percent.
LPNs have already benefited from a 12 percent "reclassification adjustment," which was agreed to before negotiations and was retroactive to June 2020.
According to the unions, the increases will make nurse practitioners the highest paid in Canada. RNs and LPNs will be the highest paid in the Atlantic provinces.
Six percent of the increases are retroactive to Nov. 1, 2020.
The contract also includes increases for shift premiums and new incentives, such as extra per-hour payments for those who supervise student nurses and those who are reassigned during a shift.
Nurses who forgo time off during peak vacation periods are eligible for a $1,000 bonus. Those called in when they are on vacation will be paid triple their hourly rate.
There's also language in the new contract to try to limit overtime and make sure shifts are properly staffed.
Within six months of the contract being signed employers are expected to "provide a profile of all units and the current number of nurses working on each shift as an agreed upon starting point."
"The employers and union will develop a framework that determines the appropriate number of nurses for each unit across the province," according to a fact sheet prepared by the unions.
The aim of that work is to ensure a "guaranteed level of nursing staff."
The workload of nurse practitioners can be reviewed by a newly established nursing staff advisory committee.
Another major issue for nurses — overtime hours — is also included in the tentative deal.
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