Thursday, September 13, 2007


A few weeks ago the letters M -O- U became a part of the new vocabulary around the water coolers and coffee shops. Lately it's Equity. Websters defines it as " justice according to natural law or right; specifically : freedom from bias or favoritism b : something that is equitable."
Equality on the other hand is defined as the quality or state of being equal.

The home care workers in NL have known for quite sometime that equality is not synonymous with equity. Home Support Workers are lower down on the health care hierarchy.They are also the most vulnerable. The majority in NL are women, and a higher than average proportion are older than 40 years of age. The majority of Home Support workers in this province are under paid, have no health benefits, no sick days and no union to represent them in getting a better life. On the other hand Home Support Workers work with the mentally challenged and elderly in our province in most cases in the comfort of their own homes bringing to them a higher quality of life. Their work provides quite a savings for the health care system of this province but yet it goes unnoticed by the present administration and the previous ones. With all our so called new Equity in this province it might be high time to give a bit of equality to those of us who work in the home care sector. Mr. Williams please allow NAPE to represent us and bargain with us fairly. Unlike big oil you'll find that Home Care Workers just want what we deserve.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

wayne you always pushed the cause in our area. i remember you getting meetings on the go while others just whined to themselves.i remember that first meeting at the college when nape attended and we actually thought we had a chance.that must of been ten years ago and still no sign of a union.that is why i gave it up and moved on.

Table Mountains said...

hi denise,long time no hear. actually our first meeting with nape was november 1995. they later came out and had us sign union cards.i remember a guy by the name of bob diamond back then coming to the hotel and home care workers had to actually sneak in because they were scared some of their employers would see them.some were threaten and never signed. it was always a struggle and it seems no matter if the liberals or conservatives are in power,neither seems to care. hopefully it'll be an election issue this time around.

Anonymous said...

nape.lol.be careful,you might get what your wishing for.lol.never done anything good for me only took dues from my pay.

Table Mountains said...

anon,if you are who you say you are,then i can't help the way you feel but for now i just wish i was in the same position as you. do you have paid sick days? medical? can you have breaks such as a 15 minute lunch break through the day? i can't,a lot of others in my situation can't.the dues you pay probably enable you to have what i just mentioned.