The head of Nova Scotia's largest union is predicting health-care workers will vote yes to an illegal strike.
Over 6,500 health-care workers will soon take a strike vote after years of collective bargaining that has failed to produce a contract.
Unlike teachers, who've already endorsed a legal strike, health workers are bound by essential services legislation. But the union and the government haven't been able to agree on which services are essential.
“What we want to do is display to McNeil and display to the Nova Scotia Health Authority that our members are taking this seriously. They've been living in flux for the last four years,” says NSGEU president Jason MacLean.
McNeil says government is listening to the union’s concerns.
“The four unions assured us that they could get together as a group and determine what that looked like, what those essential services would look like, and they'd bring it to government,” says McNeil. “We're still waiting for that to happen. As we go through this process, we're going to continue to work with our partners.”
The unions represent workers in 180 occupations, including administration and lab technology.
The two sides are still in conciliation and any job action is illegal.
