The bonus will be paid in addition to any union-negotiated pay deal.
Nurses in rural Nova Scotia, Canada are being offered up to £12,000 in “retention incentives” to keep them in the region’s public healthcare system.
Full-time nurses in care homes and hospitals will receive a £6,000 bonus, plus an additional £6,000 if they sign an agreement to continue working in the area full-time for two years.
The region will also award £6,000 to nurses who have left the public system but who agree to return and sign a two-year, full-time contract by March 31.
Other health workers, including paramedics, ward clerks, and housekeeping and food service workers will receive around £3,000.
The bonuses, which have been welcome by health unions, will be paid in addition to any union-negotiated pay deal.
We need you.
Premier Tim Houston told the Candian Press, “My message to every nurse in the province is simple: We need you.”
Houston said the money is to “recognize your sacrifice and say to you that as long as you keep working in Nova Scotia in our health-care system, your government will have your back.”
“Money certainly isn’t everything, but it’s something,” the premier added.
The Nova Scotia Nurses’ Union says government’s retention payment for nurses working in all sectors of care across the province is a step in the right direction.
NSNU President, Janet Hazelton says that the one-time payment acknowledges the hardships nurses endured long before the pandemic.
“Money is part of a multi-pronged approach to keeping nurses on the job, in our public healthcare system. We must restore work-life balance, ensure nurses are not working short and are not working an excessive amount of overtime,” notes Hazelton.
