Nurses across the country will hold a Day of Action on Friday, in the hopes of putting the federal government on alert.
The Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions and provincial nurses unions will hold protests or pickets at worksites.
President of the CFNU Linda Silas says nurses are done asking for basic respect, fairness and safety, “Nurses have had enough. We just needed a way to express our frustration, but at the same time, some of our locals are going to be doing happy events, just to give themselves a break.”
Silas says more than a decade into a chronic nursing shortage, nurses and health care staff are overworked, underpaid, burnt out, and suffering moral distress, and the future of the health care system is on the line.
The CFNU states in every province, there is growing anger and frustration among the nursing workforce.
Silas says they needed a way to express it, “Nurses and health care staff are overworked, especially in the pandemic, where overtime rates increased by over 78 per cent. The general public doesn’t understand that emergency measures in the healthcare sector means it is mandatory overtime. You are assigned on different units. Nurses are just plain tired.”
She adds, “Nurses are done asking for basic respect, safety and fairness, now we are demanding government action, and we are united to fight for the fairness we deserve.”
For the Day of Action in New Brunswick, marches and rallies are planned in front of several locations.
In Saint John, they’ll be rallying in front of the Regional Hospital and also at Health Minister Dorothy Shephard’s office from 11:30am until 1pm.
There will also be a march around the Sussex Boulevard in Sussex beginning at 1pm.
In Moncton, locals will gather in front of the TD Bank Champlain Mall entrance from noon until 1pm.
Rallies will also be held on the lawn of the Legislature in Fredericton, by members at the NBNU Provincial office from 12 pm to 1 pm.
Miramichi locals will gather from 12 p.m to 2pm in Queen Elizabeth Park (Newcastle Town Square).
