Homecare workers' salaries below poverty line, N.B. report says
Friday, April 9, 1999 - New Brunswick homecare workers are being paid
"shamefully inadequate" salaries while being expected to perform an
increasing number of nursing duties for their patients, a sweeping review
of the province's health-care system says.
A committee headed by Ian Newbould, president of Mount Allison University,
found that New Brunswick's homecare workers are the lowest paid in the
country, receiving between $5.50 and $7.50 an hour.
"The rates of pay for homemakers in New Brunswick leave a homemaker who
works full time with an income considerably below the poverty line," the
report concluded.
"It was pointed out that a rate of $10.13 per hour would approximate the
rate that a single parent with two dependent children would receive on
income assistance."
The review urged the province to increase the salaries of the home-care
workers, who have about 10,000 clients, to bring them above the poverty level.
It noted that if the resources were not dedicated to homecare, then
families, particularly women, would be forced to bear a heavy burden of the
care for ill and elderly relatives.
"Increasingly home care workers are being asked to perform nursing care,"
the review said.
Kevin Cox
Atlantic Bureau
Copyright 1999 The Globe and Mail
http://www.GlobeandMail.ca/gam/Health/19990409/UNEWBM.html
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