The provincial president of the Ontario Nurses' Association is optimistic the two-week-old strike by nurses working in Ontario's community care access centres will be over soon.
Linda Haslam-Stroud is pleased Ontario Health Minister Dr. Eric Hoskins is calling for the two sides in the dispute to return to the bargaining table or agree to arbitration. "I'm very optimistic that with the minister's comments that the employer will finally agree to get back to the table and actually discuss a resolution." She says the union has repeatedly offered to go to an arbitrator, but the employer has refused.
In the meantime, Haslam-Stroud alleges patients served by the Erie St.Clair CCAC are suffering. "We have over 30 long-term care beds sitting empty right now, with elderly patients waiting to get into the long-term care beds," she says. "We've got hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of patient files that need to be referred."
For now, she says the union is in constant contact with Deputy Labour Minister Sophie Dennis and the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care while it waits to see what the employer will do next.
The nurses demand a 1.4% wage increase, similar to increases awarded to nurses working in Ontario hospitals.
