TORONTO – The Ontario Nurses Association begins negotiations on a new contract for the hospital today nurses And the union is planning a series of actions to step up its pressure for higher wages.
Nurses, and other broad public sector workers, are subject to a salary cap law known as Bill 124 for three years, which provides for one percent increase a year.
ONA interim president Bernie Robinson says the previous contract left nurses feeling disrespected and devalued, and the union is demanding “far more” in this round of talks.
As talks begin, the union says it plans a series of “escalating actions,” starting with asking nurses to wear stickers at work that list their bargaining priorities for better wages, better staffing and better care. exposes.
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Late next month, nurses will begin picketing information at hospitals as well as the offices of members of provincial parliament, and ONA is planning a March 2 “shut down protest” outside the Toronto hotel where the bargaining is taking place.
The nurses do not have the right to strike, and Robinson says she will not join the illegal walkout.
The Ontario Hospital Association has stated that it greatly values nurses and hopes to achieve a “voluntary, mutually agreed-upon collective agreement”.
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