Fabric of our union

Peterborough Regional Health Centre Bargaining Unit President Tara Archer came up with a clever and creative way to merge ONA’s strong brand with our new digital magazine.  

During Nursing Week this year, she set up a table in the health centre displaying a large piece of plain fabric and a whole lot of permanent markers, and asked her members to take it from there.  

They were only too willing.  

“As ONA’s branding has changed to become bolder in nature, I wanted members to be able to share what their f-word is,” Archer explains. “When I asked them to think of their own f-word, I told them I wanted it to be a reflection of their feelings of being a nurse in today’s world. 

“I thought this would be an out-of-the box idea to make grassroot members aware of ONA’s new online magazine, F-Word, as well as allowing them to share through their words of what it meant to them.” 

Because the table was located where they work, Archer had only one stipulation of members: their f-words needed to be positively powerful.  

“There was a lot of deliberation and conversation regarding f-words, what they mean and the reflection behind why the letter ‘f,’” she adds. “Members thought long and hard, and some returned to the table twice.” 

The result is a montage of words that accurately reflects what ONA and our members are: fierce, fighters, feisty, fabulous.  

“Moving forward, I would like to share this with other Bargaining Units within ONA3, so that their members can add to it,” she notes. “Later on, I would like to see it become a banner or a flag that is proudly waved from time to time.”