• About
  • Join/Donate
  • Contact
Tuesday, April 13, 2021
  • Login
No Result
View All Result
The Brief
NB MEDIA CO-OP
Share a story
  • New Brunswick
  • Canada
  • World
  • Environment
  • Indigenous
  • Labour
  • Gender
  • Politics
  • Arts & Culture
  • Videos
  • COVID-19
  • New Brunswick
  • Canada
  • World
  • Environment
  • Indigenous
  • Labour
  • Gender
  • Politics
  • Arts & Culture
  • Videos
  • COVID-19
No Result
View All Result
NB MEDIA CO-OP
No Result
View All Result
Home Gender

The Bethel Nursing Home Strike in 1981-82

by David Frank
March 31, 2019
Reading Time: 3min read
The Bethel Nursing Home Strike in 1981-82

A historic strike at the Bethel Nursing Home in 1981-82.

Nursing home workers in New Brunswick fought long and hard to win the right to negotiate their wages and working conditions. They also forced the province to ensure better standards of care and safety for residents. The following excerpt from Provincial Solidarities: A History of the New Brunswick Federation of Labour describes the historic strike at the Bethel Nursing Home in 1981-82.

Women who worked in the province’s nursing homes, which were funded by public monies but privately operated, were also joining unions. By 1981, workers had won union certification at more than 20 of these establishments across the province. One employer resisted the union with a lockout, but otherwise there had been no strikes.

In rural Queens County employees faced unusually extreme conditions at the Bethel Nursing Home at Mill Cove. When Jean Moss and other workers invited Canadian Union of Public Employees organizer Joan Blacquier to meet with them, Blacquier recalled that “the air was blue” with stories of long hours, low wages, little training, missed pays, paternalism, intimidation, and abusive treatment. They also told her about practices that endangered the health and safety of the residents. All this was taking place under the aegis of an independent evangelical minister whose family owned and operated the nursing home, the gas station, motel, restaurant, and general store as well as a funeral home.

To Blacquier’s surprise, it took only a few days for the women to collect more than enough signed union cards to organize CUPE Local 2464 and apply for certification in January 1981; a vote was held in February and a certification order issued in March. Signing a contract was another matter, and the local went out on strike at the end of August.

The impasse did not end soon. Members and families parked cars and trucks along the TransCanada Highway to block access to the home, and truckdrivers were warned by CB radio not to make their usual stops at Mill Cove. Injunctions later limited the picket line to six people and two cars, and the community settled in for a long siege, supported by small strike pays and contributions from the Federation of Labour and other supporters.

Meanwhile, sworn affidavits concerning irregularities in financial practices and nursing care at the home were submitted to Premier Richard Hatfield by the workers as well as by a doctor and by a registered nurse who had previously worked at the home. Following an inspection, Minister of Health Brenda Robertson ordered the home closed, and the 100 residents were relocated by ambulance to hospitals.

The Federation of Labour and CUPE called for expropriation of the home. Instead, the province arranged for a purchase by new investors, and the new Mill Cove Nursing Home reopened in September 1982. It took a full thirteen months on the line, but the workers finally had a contract.

In this local battle, a small group of workers helped consolidate the place of unions in the province’s nursing homes. They also demonstrated that unions could succeed in winning public support and respect for low-paid women workers. As Phil Booker, who regularly stood on the picket line from midnight to 8 a.m. later recalled, “This local, from the time it started, I think, as a crew had probably more guts than I ever saw in people in a local before or since.”

David Frank is professor emeritus in Canadian history at the University of New Brunswick.

Tags: Bethel Home StrikeDavid Franklabourlabour historyNew Brunswicknursing home workersnursing homesslider
ShareTweetSend

Related Posts

Behind the “Axe the Double Tenant Tax” sign
*Opinion*

Is New Brunswick’s so-called “double tax” increasing your rent?

April 13, 2021

As the province’s affordable housing crisis has deepened, some pundits, press and landlords have taken advantage to draw attention to...

New Brunswickers losing millions on forestry
*Opinion*

New Brunswickers losing millions on forestry

April 9, 2021

For more than two years now, we’ve been asking the government of New Brunswick to adopt straightforward solutions that would...

Rural communities raise concerns about New Brunswick’s local government green paper
*Opinion*

Rural communities raise concerns about New Brunswick’s local government green paper

April 7, 2021

On the morning of April 6, the Province of New Brunswick released a green paper called, "Working Together for Vibrant...

Hey New Brunswick government, check your carbon tax facts! 
*Opinion*

Hey New Brunswick government, check your carbon tax facts! 

April 5, 2021

We are all living in a climate emergency. The purpose of the carbon tax is to immediately reduce emissions and...

Load More

Recommended

New Brunswickers losing millions on forestry

New Brunswickers losing millions on forestry

4 days ago
UNB Departments of History and Classics statement against anti-Asian racism

UNB Departments of History and Classics statement against anti-Asian racism

5 days ago
Who will be our mayor? Fredericton groups host public question session with mayoral candidates

Who will be our mayor? Fredericton groups host public question session with mayoral candidates

8 hours ago
Rural communities raise concerns about New Brunswick’s local government green paper

Rural communities raise concerns about New Brunswick’s local government green paper

6 days ago
NB Media Co-op

© 2019 NB Media Co-op. All rights reserved.

Navigate Site

  • About
  • Join/Donate
  • Contact
  • Share a Story
  • Calendar
  • Archives

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • About
  • Join/Donate
  • Contact
  • Share a Story
  • COVID-19
  • Videos
  • New Brunswick
  • Canada
  • World
  • Arts & Culture
  • Environment
  • Indigenous
  • Labour
  • Politics
  • Rural

© 2019 NB Media Co-op. All rights reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In