And the Minister also responded to another of the union's concerns - their lack of a pension. The union members say there are mass resignations because the staff doesn't have a pension to look forward to. This is a problem they have been dealing with for decades and so the minister didn't waste the opportunity to play the political blame game.
Still, he says it's something that they're discussing with the Minister of Finance.
Kevin Bernard, Minister of Health and Wellness
"This pension is not just something that happened overnight, years and years, 13 years gone, and I think it should have been adjusted then. You don't think so? Let us find a solution. I understand that the pressing question right now is that they want this addressed. This should have been addressed a long time. Not right now."
"So I can just tell you that I am as the Minister of Health, I am going to go in to meet with the people at the Ministry of Finance and at the meeting when we have that face to face, then the people at Ministry of Finance will participate in that discussion so that we could have a broad discussion and solution to the issue to address the issue of pension."
