CHARLOTTETOWN — Health P.E.I. will cease using some travelling health-care workers hired through private agencies to carry out the work of unionized provincial staff beginning in early 2027, the Union of Public Sector Employees (UPSE) said Thursday.
Background and the dispute
The move resolves a long-running complaint from UPSE members who said agency staff were performing the same duties as provincial employees but earning substantially more. The union lodged a formal grievance in 2022 over the use of travel licensed practical nurses (LPNs).
An arbitrator ordered Health P.E.I. to stop deploying travel LPNs who were doing the same work as UPSE members by this fall. After discussions between UPSE leadership and Health P.E.I., the parties agreed to extend that deadline to March 31, and the employer has signalled the change will take effect in early 2027.
"It did just include the LPNs [working] in long-term care. However, the … acting CEO, reached out to me and said it would have detrimental effects on the health-care system if they had to pull these agency staff out of the institutes," Jackson said. "We started discussions and we came to a resolve."
UPSE president Karen Jackson said the union has been hearing complaints for years about travel staff receiving higher pay for doing identical work to its members. Jackson described the reliance on agency workers as unsustainable and said she would prefer that those funds be channelled back into the public system.
What the change covers
The agreement prevents Health P.E.I. from using agency staff to perform the duties of several UPSE classifications across the system. Those include:
- Licensed practical nurses (LPNs)
- Resident-care workers
- Patient-care workers
Health P.E.I.'s use of travelling staff has been common in long-term care and other areas where staffing shortages emerge. The union says the practice has created wage and morale issues where temporary agency employees are paid more than permanent provincial staff.
Timing and the arbitration timeline
The parties reached an interim arrangement after the arbitration decision. The sequence of key events is summarised below:
| Year/event | Action |
|---|---|
| 2022 | UPSE files a grievance over use of travel LPNs |
| Following arbitration | Arbitrator ordered Health P.E.I. to cease use of travel LPNs doing UPSE work by this fall |
| Agreement reached | Deadline extended to March 31; Health P.E.I. will stop using some travel staff starting in early 2027 |
Union concerns and government spending
Jackson and other union leaders have raised concerns about the government's use of unbudgeted spending to hire travel nurses — a practice the union has labelled "alarming." They argue those resources should be invested in recruiting and retaining permanent staff within the public system.
Health P.E.I. leadership, while not quoted directly in the union statement, told UPSE the sudden withdrawal of agency staff could harm service delivery in some care settings. That concern prompted the negotiations that resulted in the March deadline.
Impact on Islanders and next steps
For patients and families, the change aims to align care delivery with staff who are hired, trained and paid under the provincial collective agreements. For UPSE members, it addresses a long-standing equity issue in pay and working conditions between permanent staff and higher-paid agency personnel.
Health P.E.I. and UPSE will now need to manage the operational shift as the March date approaches. Questions remain about how vacancies will be filled, whether recruitment and retention efforts for permanent roles will be expanded and how service levels will be maintained during the transition.
I will continue to follow developments and report on how Health P.E.I. plans to replace agency capacity, any changes to hiring or wage strategies, and the implications for long-term care and other front-line services across the province.
Reporting from Charlottetown.
