After lengthy talks on the weekend aimed at averting a nurses strike, the provincial government refused to change it's position at all.
A strike is now guaranteed, in apparent fulfillment of government’s agenda. The provincial government appeared to change positions on other language and provisions but consistently refused to change its position on two controversial clauses.
One would enable government to set different wage scales for nurses based on recruiting issues. The other would allow government to fire nurses injured on the job who hadn’t returned to work after two years and been deemed to have a permanent injury. These two provisions were aimed from outset, it would appear, at the nurses. Other public sector unions accepted the government’s position whole, without change. These provisions did not affect their workers.
The premier has promised that if the nurses strike (as opposed to buckle to government’s diktat), the government will introduce legislation imposing a settlement that includes all the provisions nurses have rejected. As well, the government has committed to eliminating all the pay raises and incentives that were negotiated.
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