Continuing Care Referral Assistants Lobbying Letter

Dear Continuing Care Referral Assistants,

You are receiving this email in follow up to our recent Zoom meeting.

During the meeting we discussed the importance of putting pressure on government and your employer to apply the 12% increase to your role and the role of other LPNs who are not receiving the 12% increase in pay. Please see below for the body of an email/letter for you, your friends, and family members to copy and paste into an email to your MLA.

To find your MLA’s contact information click here: https://nslegislature.ca/members/profiles/contact

Also include:

• The Minister of Health – The Honourable Leo Glavine: Minister@novascotia.ca
• The Premier – The Honourable Steven McNeil: PREMIER@novascotia.ca

And NS Health CEO Brendan Carr: ceo@nshealth.ca

To Whom It May Concern:

On June 11^th, 2020, Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs) in the former Capital District Health Authority (CDHA) received a 12% increase in pay retroactive to March 2014 in a consent award from an Arbitrator resolving the longstanding LPN reclassification grievance.

On August 19^th, 2020, Government announced it would apply the 12% increase to all public sector LPNs across the province retroactive to June 11, 2020 (the date of the consent award).

In response to an NSGEU grievance, Nova Scotia Health (NSH) has taken the position that they will not apply the new rate of pay and retroactive wages to LPNs who work in other designations that require an LPN license throughout the rest of NSH.

LPNs in Continuing Care are classified as Continuing Care Referral Assistants (CCRA). This crucial work enables in home continuing care and medical services, so the aging population of Nova Scotia can continue to receive their care at home, reducing ER visits, and long term care wait lists. These 36 LPNs are now making almost five dollars ($5.00) less than LPNs in the rest of the province.

Unless government and the employer apply wage parity to these classifications the LPNs who work in these roles as Operating Room Technicians and Continuing Care Referral Assistants cannot be expected to stay. They will find work that pays them appropriately to their role as an LPN. The positions left vacant will not be successfully filled as the employer cannot expect LPNs to accept a position that pays 12% less than any other LPN position across the province. This will impact scheduled and emergency surgeries, access to continuing care services at home, and referrals to agencies necessary to carry out the in home care that is desperately needed by many Nova Scotians

I am asking the Provincial Government and NSH to fairly pay all LPN’s in the public sector appropriately by extending the 12% to the LPNs working as continuing care referral assistants and operating room technicians.