NSGEU Hosts Labour Leader from Australia, Expert on Nurse-To-Patient Ratios

PRESS CONFERENCE:

NSGEU Hosts Labour Leader from Australia, Expert on Nurse-To-Patient Ratios 

Last week, negotiations between Local 97 (Registered Nurses at CDHA) and the CDHA broke down because the employer has failed to address nurses’ key concerns of scheduling and staffing. The NSGEU has been campaigning for the introduction of mandated nurse-to-patient ratios in our public healthcare system, because we believe nurse-to-patient ratios are essential to providing a safe level of care. Unfortunately, the employer has refused to consider this proposal. We have now filed for conciliation and are in the process of holding a strike vote with the membership.

The NSGEU is now hosting an international labour leader, Judith Kiejda, who has come to Nova Scotia to speak with our nurses about nurse-to-patient ratios.

Judith is the Assistant General Secretary of the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association, which successfully fought for mandated nurse-to-patient ratios for their members in 2010. She will be speaking to the media and members about how they achieved these ratios in her area, and how ratios have improved patient care for Australians.

Who: President Joan Jessome; Judith Kiejda, General Secretary of the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association; Chief Negotiator, Linda Power; and bargaining committee members/nurses will speak about bargaining efforts and nurse-to-patient ratios.

What: Media conference to share information about mandated nurse-to-patient ratios

When: Tuesday, February 4^th, 11 a.m.

Where: NSGEU head office (255 John Savage Avenue, Burnside), Conference Centre

Media contact: Holly Fraughton, Communications Officer (hfraughton@nsgeu.ca or 471-1781)