ONA Provincial President Erin Ariss, Region 2 Vice-President Rachel Muir, CEO Andrea Kay and COO Matt Stout stand in solidarity with members and staff of our Hospital Provincial Negotiating Team, including team chair Jason Dupras.
With ONA’s more than 60,000 hospital-sector members currently in provincial bargaining, we have been out in full force, participating in many actions across our province to demand a contract that respects your professions and work.
Although it’s been a tough negotiation road so far, ONA members are fierce and determined to achieve your top demand: registered nurse (RN)-to-patient ratios. Here’s a recap of what has happened since negotiations with the Ontario Hospital Association (OHA) began.
While our elected Hospital Provincial Negotiating Team (HPNT) had much optimism going into bargaining in that first week of January – members overwhelmingly approved the initial proposal package by 98.6 per cent – things turned cold quickly at the table.
“The OHA has proposed regressive and abhorrent proposals that would vastly change the look of all our hospitals,” said HPNT Chair Jason Dupras in a video message. “To see what they’ve put forward is disgusting and abhorrent and it’s incredibly difficult to see how much they devalue and demean us and the fact that they feel we are just commodities.”
As ONA Provincial President Erin Ariss declared on video, “What I need you to know is that we have to turn up and get out there. We can’t be silent anymore. If you could read right now what we’ve been sitting through, you would be in the streets like you never have been before because it’s a dismantling of us and of our profession.”
During mediation in February members caught a revealing and devastating glimpse of what hospital employers are proposing, including:
The OHA proposals would gut our members’ collective agreement rights and remove many hard-fought wins we achieved in the last few rounds of negotiations. We can only imagine how many more ONA members would leave their jobs if the OHA gets what they are seeking. Quite simply, what has been put on the negotiating table would be catastrophic for nurses and health-care professionals, and everyone in our province who needs public hospital care.
Needless to say, with the OHA’s beyond disrespectful showing in bargaining, an agreement was not reached during mediation. ONA and the OHA headed to arbitration in April where both sides outlined their proposals in front of Arbitrator Sheri Price. We were firm and resolute in our presentation. The Price arbitration decision will be issued in the months to come.
Visit ona.org/hospitals often for the latest bargaining developments and upcoming actions.
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