Most of the people killed by COVID-19 in Canada are seniors living in senior housing or a nursing home. Before the COVID-19 crisis hit, New Brunswick’s nursing home workers’ struggles to improve the standard of care and working conditions in nursing homes were headline news. Nursing home workers have been forced to go to court. They have occupied the Social Development Minister’s Office. They have written letters to family members of nursing home residents to ensure them of how much the workers care for the residents. They demand pay equity.
On April 16, a webinar, Nursing homes in time of COVID and why union matters, featured three presenters, Simon Ouellette, communications officer for CUPE, Sharon Teare, president, NB Council of Nursing Home Unions, and Johanne Perron, executive director, NB Coalition for Pay Equity. Watch the video of the webinar in the link below.
The webinar was organized by St. Thomas University’s School of Social Work’s Organizing for Action with Diverse Groups class, the NB Media Co-op, CUPE (Canadian Union of Public Employees) New Brunswick and the NB Coalition for Pay Equity.