New Brunswick nurses vote overwhelmingly in favour of strike
Three bargaining units return votes of up to 96% in favour,
with both sides returning to talks on Tuesday
New Brunswick nurses have voted resoundingly in favour of strike action.
About 9,000 members of the New Brunswick Nurses Union began voting last week, with votes being counted Monday at the Delta Hotel in Fredericton.
By late afternoon, union president Paula Doucet confirmed the results of the three bargaining units' votes — with a combined vote of 92 per cent in favour.
"Our nursing home nurses voted 89 per cent in favour ... Our Part 3 nurses — so all of Vitalité, Horizon and [Extramural] — was 91 per cent and our nurse managers and supervisors 96 per cent," Doucet told CBC News, noting the mood was "very jubilant."
The union and the province are to return to the bargaining table on Tuesday, the first time they have done so since late September.
Doucet declined to comment Monday on what the union will be seeking during bargaining, citing a media blackout.
"But I think anybody just has to look at recent media reports of working conditions" across the province, she said.
"Right now for a nurse in New Brunswick, it hasn't been great."
Doucet has often warned of the pressures of nursing shortages and the increasing reality of burnout, particularly amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
No job action planned at this time
Doucet noted no strike or other job action is planned at this time.
"We would have to give seven days notice before we take any job action," she said. "In the spirit of going back to the table, that would be where we would want to get our deal, is at the table and not out on the sidewalk."
Erika Jutras, communications manager for the province's Finance and Treasury Board, told CBC News that the province would likewise not be making any statement while talks are ongoing.
The union represents 9,000 licensed practical nurses, registered nurses and nurse practitioners. They have been without a contract since Dec. 31, 2018, and members have twice rejected tentative agreements.
Monday's vote comes just weeks after a strike vote by provincial workers who are members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees.
More than 20,000 public servants, including school bus drivers, educational support staff and workers in transportation, corrections and the community college system, went on strike in late October for more than two weeks.
The province ordered striking health-care workers, which did not include nurses, back to work using an emergency order. CUPE is challenging the order in court.
The other locals remained on strike. All but one local voted to accept a contract proposal worked out during the strike.
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