Some New Brunswick elder-care workers left out of pandemic wage top-up: union

MONCTON, N.B. – The union representing workers contracted for housekeeping, food and laundry services in New Brunswick’s Shannex retirement facilities say they’ve been left out of a wage top-up program.

Carl Flanagan, national representative with the United Food and Commercial Workers, says the workers are employed by Compass Canada and contracted by the Shannex facilities.

Flanagan said Monday the workers were left out of a program funded by the federal government that would boost their monthly take-home pay by up to $500.

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She says their jobs start at $14.70 an hour, which she says is not easy to live on in New Brunswick.

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A spokesperson for the Department of Social Development said in an email the program ended earlier this month and employees of third-party contractors were not eligible.

Flanagan says the workers should be paid retroactively and that they took the same risks working on the front lines in a pandemic as employees with companies that did qualify.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 29, 2020.