FREDERICTON – New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt says 9,950 nurses across the province will each receive a retention bonus of $10,000 by January.
The lump-sum payments to nurses were a major promise by the Liberals during the recent provincial election campaign, which ended in October with Holt’s party securing a majority mandate.
On the campaign trail, Holt promised to pay nurses $10,000 to encourage them to stay in the workforce, promising that they would receive a $5,000 bonus the following year.
In a news release, the government says permanent full-time and part-time nurses working in hospitals, home care and for the ambulance service will be paid by Dec. 31, and nurses in long-term care will receive their bonuses in January.
The total bonus package will cost the province about $83 million.
The news release says the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents about 1,000 licensed practical nurses in the province, has yet to sign an agreement for its members to receive the bonuses.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 3, 2024.
