New Brunswick’s Healthcare System is being held together by a series of band aids – and it is not sustainable.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FREDERICTON, N.B. – The New Brunswick Nurses Union (NBNU) is hosting its annual Executive Council meeting virtually over 2-days this week. More than 120 registered nurses will connect via Zoom from various nursing sectors across the province. On Tuesday April 13th, nurses will receive educational sessions with the business meeting and open forum to carry over into Wednesday, April 14th.

“NBNU had to cancel Executive Council last year due to the onset and uncertainty around the COVID-19 pandemic, and although we are still navigating through the third wave currently, I am eager to connect with our local leaders and have discussions about the status of our contract negotiations,” said Paula Doucet, NBNU President. All three bargaining units represented by NBNU, have been working without a contract since expiring on December 31st, 2018.

“Registered nurses play a critical role in the quality of healthcare delivery and have been working chronic and excessive amounts of overtime during the past 13-months in relation to the pandemic. While it’s true, New Brunswick has faired well in comparison to most other provinces, the same precautions must be taken by nurses and the stress caused by the pending virus is no different. In addition, contact tracing continues to be a necessary and demanding function of our public health nurses, many of whom have been working 14-16 hours days for more than a year now. Compounding this issue is the fact that our membership numbers are down approximately 3% since last year. Every registered nurse has stepped up in some capacity to ensure our population is protected, I think the least government can do is bring closure to these ongoing negotiations and offer nurses a fair deal,” Doucet added.

“Even with our relatively low number of cases, government had to ask registered nurses to come out of retirement to provide support – and they have because they care. But our healthcare system should not be so vulnerable. Our system is being held together by a series of band aids and it is not sustainable; we are one incident away from it crumbling down around us.”

 

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For more information, contact:

Leanne Lagsiar
Communications Officer
Cell: 506-461-4007
Email: [email protected]