Don’t rain on our parade: Members rally against cuts
Members pump fists and take photos while listening to speakers talk about serious RN cuts on a makeshift stage outside of St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton.
Members pump fists and take photos while listening to speakers talk about serious RN cuts on a makeshift stage outside of St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton.
It’s going to take more than a little precipitation to stop ONA members from spreading our key messages about cuts to care.
During the June Provincial Coordinators Meeting (PCM), hosted by Region 4 in Hamilton, approximately 150 members, wearing ONA rain ponchos and placards and carrying hard-to-miss signs made at a workshop a few days earlier, literally shut down city streets as they marched from the convention centre where the PCM was taking place to nearby St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton.
Throughout the journey, drivers honked their horns in support while passersby applauded from the sidewalk and others still came out to their porches, balconies and store fronts to cheer the ONA contingent on, take a few photos and join us in our powerful chants, led by Provincial President Erin Ariss and Region 4 Vice-President Grace Pierias.
Hamilton is, after all, a labour city.
The message along the route and at Joseph’s, where a makeshift stage was parked for a series of speeches from Ariss, our members and allies, was clear: The Ford government and our employers are putting patients at risk by underfunding our public health-care system and cutting hundreds of nurses and health-care professionals. In fact, since January 2025, more than 1,300 positions have been eliminated, a number that keeps climbing.
ONA75 Local Coordinator and St. Joseph’s Bargaining Unit President Angela Spiler, an RN of 42 years, told the crowd that her hospital “created and then deleted nine NICU positions because of government underfunding. They closed the East Region Mental Health Clinic, but didn’t ensure that the RN jobs moved with the patients. They’ve cut a whopping 33 net positions. This is unacceptable.”
Her sentiments were echoed by Brant Community Healthcare System Bargaining Unit President Cathy Cleverdon, who noted “that despite a budget surplus in 2025-26 and the hiring of a ‘Director of Furniture,’ who will get paid $180,000 a year, my employer recently cut 21 RN positions in various departments.”
That shameful reality is the reason so many ONA members said they took to the streets.
Visibility is important, so that the public is aware of all this.
“I’m so glad we’re doing this political action and letting the public know about our Black and Blue campaign, the cuts that are happening and all the things impacting the public by not having appropriate nursing staff,” said member Jane. “They’re not getting the care they need and there are increased wait times. Visibility is important, so that the public is aware of all this because they basically don’t know what’s going on until they experience it for themselves.”
“We’re here to let Doug Ford know that ONA will not take this any longer,” added member Liz. “We’re here for the patients and to protect the nurses when they’re at work.”
Member Sarah concurred, noting she joined the rally to “stand up against the abuses that we experience at work that we’re not going to tolerate anymore.”
For members Nilah and Jessica, attending the rally was even more meaningful, as it was their first.
“It’s very well organized,” observed Nilah. “It’s important for people to see nurses out here and to be there for each other because if we don’t have each other’s back who will?"
“A lot of people don’t know the issues that are ongoing,” commented Jessica, “and so it’s important that we do these demonstrations.”
View photos from this event on ONA's Facebook page. Learn more about RN cuts and how you can join our fight here.
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