The province’s Registered Nurses’ Union is calling for an increase to income replacement rates for workers injured on the job.
Union president Yvette Coffey says there have been no increases for those people since 2018, adding that’s of great concern for many injured nurses.
She says the sheer nature of the job makes them vulnerable to injuries.
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Coffey cited WorkplaceNL stats that show one in three workplace “compensable injuries” happen in health care.
“The violence, I’ve been talking about it for a long, long time,” she says. “It is increasing, it is not being addressed, despite efforts by the employers to address violence in the workplace. Every day I’m hearing the stories from our members.”
Because income replacement rates are so low, some nurses are going back to work before they should, while others are forced to use sick leave or employment insurance to pay the bills, according to Coffey.
“I have been through the system myself as an injured worker and I know how difficult it was for me with young children at the time, and trying make ends meet,” she said.
“Even though WorkplaceNL might pay for the physio and medications or whatever, they don’t pay for the gas for me to get to those appointments … and on half your income? You just can’t make it.”
