Federation of Labour Backs Home Care Workers
November 5, 2008

Home care workers now have the backing of the entire labour movement. Delegates to the Federation of Labour convention in Gander have overwhelmingly endorsed a call from NAPE president Carol Furlong to support NAPE in its campaign to increase wages and benefits for home care workers. Furlong says it's shameful that workers in that sector earn little more than the minimum wage. Without changes, Furlong fears that the home care industry will cease to exist. She says even now,agencies cannot find enough workers to meet the demand. Furlong feels Newfoundland and Labrador's new status as a 'have' province should be reflected in the wages the province pays home care workers.

Carol Furlong: “The current wage and benefit package provides no incentive to recruit workers into the home care industry. If some positive steps are not taken soon to pay workers a respectable wage, I fear the argument will be redundant as the home care industry will likely be non-existent. Supply and demand is a real issue. Even the agencies are saying they cannot find enough workers to meet the demand.”

“It is shameful that in a province experiencing unprecedented wealth, those who dedicate their working careers to caring for the people who built this province make little more than minimum wage.”

Maybe it's time to take a step further and have the Home Care workers and clients who support them go to the Confederation Building for a day of protest. Maybe Ross will look out the window and see a crisis.

Happy Canada Day.

DRAIN Says Disabled Treated As Second Class Citizens
July 1, 2008

The President of a local disability advocacy group says the current system is all but failing the disabled people of Newfoundland and Labrador. Disabled Rights Are Indeed Neglected, or DRAIN, held a demonstration on Confederation Hill yesterday. President Helen Hillier says from home care to income support programs, members of the disabled community continue to be treated as second class citizens. Hillier says it takes its toll. Chairperson for Homecare Newfoundland and Labrador, Anne Whelan, says agencies are losing workers almost on a weekly basis. Whelan says agencies are providing their own training for workers, who are then offered jobs within the provincial system.

When will Ross Wiseman realize that the system has collapsed?

CRISIS,CRISIS,CRISIS,CRISIS,CRISIS,CRISIS,CRISIS....

Once again a cry is given. Will anyone in government respond?
From the VOCM Newsite.

Crisis in Home Care Industry
October 4, 2007

The home care sector of the Employer's Council says the industry has reached a crisis situation. The 15 professionally managed care operators say they can't do it anymore and are no longer taking new clients. Ann Whelan says agencies are getting at least a half dozen calls each day for new service but no new applicants for positions. Whelan says the industry is undervalued by government. She says when people can make more money with benefits at a local coffee shop than providing a key role in the health care system, something is wrong.

October 3/2007

It's a nice sunny day here in Cape Ray! Our youngest Granddaughter visited us early today and she got outside to play in the garden. Still a few flowers left and she got a few handfuls to carry home. Our local PC Candidate Colin Short dropped by and we had a chat. I told him what my issues (Home Care Workers) are in the upcoming election and he did take the time to listen and said he would bring the matter up. I hope so! Thats about all i can do. Four years and the present PC government did not listen to our pleas so i have my doubts if they'll listen now or even care. Will let get back to something better! My granddaughter, here are a few pics of her in the garden this morning if your interested.

Attention Mr. Williams !

Manufacturers, NAPE Question Leaders
September 26, 2007

NAPE is using the election to get commitments from the political parties as it relates to home care workers. The union says workers in that industry are paid abysmally low wages, which in turn has created hiring problems for companies. NAPE says the problems will continue as long as government policy relegates pay for home care workers to little more than minimum wage. Union president Carol Furlong says they can find greater benefits working in the fast food industry than caring for the sick and elderly.

Furlong is calling on all three parties to outline their plans to deal with the wage issue.

Probably one of the biggest crisis in the province and no one in Government will acknowledge it. If something drastic happened in the Home Care system tomorrow and someone suffered terribly we would see many champions of the cause. Until that time it'll be just thrown on the back burners and forgotten. Mr Wiliams you can be a champion of the cause in the present and not the future when it might be to late for some. Please help the Home Support Workers in NL have a better life. Those we help, know we care. Let us all know you care also!

New make work project revealed !

Sometimes i just don't know what to make of it all! The premier has announced the greatest NL make work project of all time ($1000 for any baby adopted or born in NL) and he estimates it'll only cost 4.5 million. Of course at our age the wife and i are disqualified and nothing is being offered for even trying at our age. Actually the wife looked over at me when the announcement was made and said,"don't even think about it!" My mind started racing and i could not help but grin at the whole thing. I wondered in case of twins would it be considered as double billing and would John Noseworthy be checking out such instances. I thought about the expecting mothers outside of the province who would schedule their vacation time around the time the baby is due and come back home to pick up a few Danny dollars. I thought of all the times callers to open line radio who would make statements such as "i was born a PC/liberal, i'll die a PC/liberal" and now it could actually be a little closer to the truth. This financial incentive no doubt might help those who will have children and i'm sure it would be welcomed. The Premier said the province cannot afford to have its population shrink any further. I agree Mr. Williams,so how about a little incentive for those of us living here and thinking about leaving for better pastures. Each day for us moving to Alberta is a possibility because of the low wages we receive as Home Care Workers in this province. So how about an immediate wage increase? A lot of Home Care Workers might not be able to take part in your new program but a wage increase might make a difference in keeping us here to keep the population up a bit.

Equity,Equity,Equity, but no Equality for others.

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.

Labor Day

The Union leaders in our province seem to be optimistic about the future of employees in NL. A recent news release to VOCM shows that Carol Furlong is expecting more and pointing to those in the Home Care sector who she claims are still well underpaid. I suspect the majority of those Home Support workers are going to work today. They receive only six paid holidays each year and working them gives extra money on a paycheck. Hopefully by next Labor Day things will be a bit better for all Home Support Workers.

Ross speaks....not really!

From the VOCM News site:

Province Will Talk Wages With Nurses
August 18, 2007

Health Minister Ross Wiseman says they can't increase nursing wages until the current collective agreement is up for renewal. Nurses Union President Debbie Forward has said nurses in this province are the lowest paid in the country and that's a challenge when it comes to recruiting. Minister Wiseman indicates government will be willing to talk money when negotiations start.

What about the Home Care workers in NL Mr. Wiseman? We have no collective agreement with anyone. How about it Mr. Premier? You control the purse strings along with the puppet strings. How about wage increases for those of us who have no one to represent us?