ONA demands hospital CEOs: “Have a heart”

At a Toronto media conference on February 10, ONA demanded that nurse staffing ratios be front and centre in both a new hospital provincial collective agreement with the Ontario Hospital Association and for the next Ontario government – the election was taking place at the same time – to legislate and fund those ratios.

“The crisis in our health-care system is the direct result of intentional underfunding by the Ford Conservatives and understaffing by hospital CEOs, who are more interested in expanding private, for-profit clinics than improving our public hospitals,” said ONA Provincial President Erin Ariss. She noted that high levels of nurse staffing achieved through ratios are shown to improve retention and recruitment and decrease patient complication rates and deaths. 

In 2024, emergency departments across Ontario closed for a combined total of nearly 15,000 hours caused largely by understaffing, she added.

Surrounded by fellow nurses holding stacks of Valentines that were later delivered to hospital CEOs throughout Ontario, calling on them to “have a heart” and implement patient ratios in our contract, ONA97 Local Coordinator Liz Romano and ONA95 Local Vice-Coordinator Maureen McLeod delivered an important message of their own. 

“To my CEO and all public hospital CEOs, we keep hearing about budget constraints, but a budget reflects priorities,” said Romano. “When management is bloated while front-line care is stretched thin, that’s not a budget problem, that’s a priority problem.”  

She noted that since 1993, Ontarians have watched services like cataract and orthopedic surgeries move to private clinics. These clinics charge more than OHIP rates and burden patients with extra costs to enrich corporate interests while draining resources – funding and nurses –  from public hospitals, which directly impacts their staffing levels. 

“The ethical dilemma we face is heartbreaking,” added McLeod. “Imagine nurses that are already busy with their assigned patients, and two patient call bells ring simultaneously – both potential emergencies. Who do they give care to first? I’ve watched colleagues leave the profession, overwhelmed by the emotional toll of providing less care than they know their patients need.The solution is clear: we need mandated RN-to-patient ratios.”

“I stand here in complete solidarity with our siblings at ONA on behalf of 54 unions and over one million workers,” said Ontario Federation of Labour President Laura Walton, a frequent speaker at our events. “After seven years of Doug Ford and his government, our nurses have been ignored. We see announcement after announcement about building hospitals, but Ford overlooks the fundamental truth: You can build hospitals, but if you fail to fund them operationally and ensure proper nursing ratios, all you have is a building.”

In fact, Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles told the media conference that the Ford government voted down a bill introduced by her party last July that would have seen such ratios. 

“We’re seeing more and more nurses burn out and leave the work they love,” she explained. “Instead of respecting them, Doug Ford froze their wages and took them to court. He called them ‘health-care heroes’ while taking away their pay. This is just more proof that Ford can’t be trusted. We need to rebuild the capacity of our health-care system, and it starts with hiring more nurses and establishing safe staffing ratios to make sure that patients get care when and where they need it.”

Visit ona.org/hospitals for more.