Tuesday, February 26, 2008



Home-care labour crunch at crisis point, managers say


"CBC NEWS ARTICLE"

A bustling job market in the St. John's area is draining home-care workers, and a labour shortage won't improve as long as wages remain well below national standards, an agency owner warns.

Most home care workers in Newfoundland and Labrador earn little more than minimum wage. Most home care workers in Newfoundland and Labrador earn little more than minimum wage.
(CBC)

"On an average week to two-week basis, I would suspect we're losing three to four home support workers, and … we're hiring probably one, maybe two, every two weeks," said Phyllis Marie Healey, human resources manager of Caregivers, a home care company in St. John's.

"We can't replace the ones we are losing."

The issue is wages. Even fast-food restaurants pay more than what Newfoundland and Labrador employers can offer in home care, an industry largely subsidized by the provincial government.

The issue of home care was pushed to the fore last week by the dilemma of Patrick and Shirley Connors, a St. John's couple in their late 70s who say they may have to declare bankruptcy in order to qualify for government-run care. More here.............

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

wayne, mother said your still their champion of the cause.

Anonymous said...

i wouldn't hold your breath waiting for a reply from that department wayne. i do think that they'll throw a bit of cash at it and hope it goes away but they cannot think of any real solutions. the previous administrations never gave it much thought when they had the power and it's something that just seems to stay in the news.