After over three years of bargaining, and no real progress, the province’s healthcare union has decided to hold a strike vote in September.

CUPE 5430 President Bashir Jalloh says low wages, short staffing, and increasing workloads have pushed workers to their limits, and with no hope at the negotiation table, a strike vote was the next step to be taken, however, it was not made lightly.

“This is not something we want to do. It is something very serious…but at the same time, we want healthcare workers to be recognized.”

He acknowledges that if a strike were to take place, it would cause detrimental delays, disruptions, and backlogs.

“This is going to make patients wait longer times for their tests, families will experience delays, and there is going to be bypass from the rural communities to the city. It’s going to create overcapacity in the urban centres.”

Jalloh says, in an ideal world, workers would be paid what they’re worth, which would incentivize them not to leave the province. Jalloh says there have been times when a deal felt close, such as last September, but the SHA remained committed to its practice of bringing in contract workers to do the work of union members as they say fit, which is a dealbreaker for the union, as it does not provide job security.

The vote will take place between September 8 and 14th.