The membership of Nova Scotia’s four acute care health unions all voted overwhelmingly to accept the Council of Union’s approach to collective bargaining agreed to by their unions and the province of Nova Scotia.

The Nova Scotia Nurses’ Union (NSNU) which represents 6900 nurses in the province says that mediation, which began on October 17 as a result of Bill 1, The Health Authorities Act, ended on November 17th with the majority of key issues unresolved.

Today the government announced the procurement of a consultant to examine and make recommendations on service delivery in the home care sector, but the Nova Scotia Nurses’ Unions (NSNU) says they are confident that the findings will show that Nova Scotians already receive quality service that’s affordable and irreplaceable.

Recently, the Minister of Health and Wellness, Leo Glavine, stated the Liberal government’s intentions to introduce for-profit homecare in Nova Scotia to compete with the notfor-profit service offered by the Victorian Order of Nurses (VON).

The Nova Scotia government introduced essential services legislation early Monday evening surprising labour groups and prompting wide-spread mobilization of health care workers determined to protest this latest attack on unions.