IN THIS ISSUE . . . E4 From ONA President Linda Haslam-Stroud, RN E5 From ONA First Vice-President Vicki McKenna, RN Vol. 14 • No. 2 MAY 2014 is awaiting the decision of an arbitrator after the Ontario Hospital Association (OHA) walked away from negotiations for a renewed hospital central collective agreement. Despite the fact that our Hospital Central Negotiating Team wanted to reach an agree- ment at the bargaining table and had a mediator available, the OHA ended talks the second week of March, forcing a subsequent arbitration hearing before Arbitrator Bill Kaplan on the weekend of March 15-16. His award was pending at press time. e current collective agreement expired on March 31, 2014. Unprecedented Rollbacks During arbitration, the OHA proposed unprecedented rollbacks to The Members’ Publication of the Ontario Nurses’ Association continues on page 3 ONA With hundreds of ONA leaders, members, student nurses, staff and fellow unions shouting, “More Nurses, No Cuts,” ONA President Linda Haslam-Stroud warns the media at our rally at Queen’s Park on March 19 that concessions proposed during arbitration for a new hospital collective agreement would have a profound impact on the care Ontarians receive. INDEX Up Front ......................................................... 3 Member News ............................................. 6 PMC Photospread..................................... 10 ONA News ................................................... 12 Queen’s Park Update ............................... 15 CFNU ............................................................. 15 Pensions ....................................................... 16 Student Affiliation .................................... 17 OH&S ............................................................. 18 OHC ............................................................... 18 LEAP .............................................................. 19 Human Rights and Equity ..................... 20 Education .................................................... 21 Awards and Decisions............................. 22 ONTARIO NURSES’ ASSOCIATION 85 Grenville St., Ste. 400 Toronto ON M5S 3A2 Included with this Issue: The Work of the Union – Spring 2014 Update Special Pull-out Feature: Join us in our Fight for More Nurses, Better Care! Hospital Contract in Hands of Arbitrator
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IN THIS ISSUE . . .E4From ONA President
Linda Haslam-Stroud, RN
E5From ONA First Vice-President
Vicki McKenna, RN
Vol. 14 • No. 2MAY 2014
is awaiting the decision of an arbitrator after the Ontario Hospital Association (OHA) walked away from negotiations for a renewed hospital central collective
agreement.Despite the fact that our Hospital Central Negotiating Team wanted to reach an agree-
ment at the bargaining table and had a mediator available, the OHA ended talks the second week of March, forcing a subsequent arbitration hearing before Arbitrator Bill Kaplan on the weekend of March 15-16. His award was pending at press time. The current collective agreement expired on March 31, 2014.
Unprecedented RollbacksDuring arbitration, the OHA proposed unprecedented rollbacks to
The Members’ Publication of the Ontario Nurses’ Association
continues on page 3
ONA
With hundreds of ONA leaders, members, student nurses, staff and fellow unions shouting,
“More Nurses, No Cuts,” ONA President Linda Haslam-Stroud warns the media at our rally at
Queen’s Park on March 19 that concessions proposed during arbitration for a new hospital
collective agreement would have a profound impact on the care Ontarians receive.INDEXUp Front ......................................................... 3Member News ............................................. 6PMC Photospread .....................................10ONA News ...................................................12Queen’s Park Update ...............................15CFNU .............................................................15Pensions .......................................................16Student Affiliation ....................................17OH&S .............................................................18OHC ...............................................................18LEAP ..............................................................19Human Rights and Equity .....................20Education ....................................................21Awards and Decisions .............................22
ONTARIO NURSES’ ASSOCIATION85 Grenville St., Ste. 400Toronto ON M5S 3A2Included with this Issue:
The Work of the Union – Spring 2014 Update
Special Pull-out Feature: Join us in our Fight for More Nurses, Better Care!
Hospital Contract in Hands of Arbitrator
MAY 20142 www.ona.org
Linda Haslam-Stroud, RN
President, VM #2254 Communications & Government
Relations / Student Liaison
Vicki McKenna, RN
First VP, VM #2314Political Action & Professional Issues
EOrillia 210 Memorial Ave., Unit 126A Orillia, ON L3V 7V1 Tel: (705) 327-0404 Fax: (705) 327-0511EOttawa 1400 Clyde Ave., Ste. 211 Nepean, ON K2G 3J2 Tel: (613) 226-3733 Fax: (613) 723-0947ESudbury 40 Larch Street, Unit 203 Sudbury, ON P5E 5M7 Tel: (705) 560-2610 Fax: (705) 560-1411
EThunder Bay #300, Woodgate Centre,
1139 Alloy Dr. Thunder Bay, ON P7B 6M8 Tel: (807) 344-9115 Fax: (807) 344-8850ETimmins Canadian Mental Health
Association Building 330 Second Ave, Ste. 203 Timmins, ON P4N 8A4 Tel: (705) 264-2294 Fax: (705) 268-4355EWindsor 3155 Howard Ave., Ste. 220 Windsor, ON N8X 3Y9
Tel: (519) 966-6350 Fax: (519) 972-0814
ONA Regional Offices
The Members’ Publication of the Ontario Nurses’ Association
continues from cover Hospital Contract in Hands of Arbitratorwages and benefits for our 58,000 hospital members, which would result in a $26,000 reduction on a new graduate over the eight-year grid and would roll back the wages of any nurse with less than nine years experience transferring to another hospital from three to seven per cent, depending on where they are on the grid. The OHA’s negotiating limits were supported by the government.
“You can’t tell nurses we are the backbone of the health care system and then take apart our very spines,” said ONA Presi-dent Linda Haslam-Stroud. “I’ve been involved in negotiations for 34 years now – most of those in provincial bargaining – and have never seen such a devaluing of our profession. Provincial hospitals have received zero base funding and with these draco-nian concessions, the government is basically telling them it’s perfectly fine to balance their budgets on nurses’ backs. I am appalled.”
Lack of RespectOur hospital members have already been through a two-year wage freeze and these outrageous proposals come at a time when Ontario is faced with the second-worst RN-to-patient ratio in Canada, need-ing 17,500 additional nurses just to catch up. But instead, ONA has tracked the loss of more than 1,500 RN positions in the past two years alone, despite the fact that study after study has shown that patient mortality and morbidity rates increase by 7 per cent for ev-ery extra patient added to the average RN’s workload.
“Rather than working with ONA to find a way forward for our hospital nurses, the OHA chose to walk away, sending a very strong message that nurses are not respected in this province,” added Haslam-Stroud. “That message will most likely prompt nursing graduates to look to other provinces or south of the border to prac-tice. In fact, we are hearing these very concerns from our nursing
ONA members and supporters react with a resounding “shame” as
President Linda Haslam-Stroud tells them Ontario Hospital Associ-
ation proposals will make Ontario nurses the lowest paid in the
country, outside of Quebec.
FEBRUARY BOARD HIGHLIGHTS
The following are key highlights from the Board of Directors meeting held February 10-13, 2014 at the ONA provincial office:
You will find a copy of the revamped
Board Highlights on our website at
www.ona.org/feb14bh.
Board Highlights from the following
meeting, held at the ONA provincial
office from April 8-11, 2014, will ap-
pear in the next issue of Front Lines.
A The Board supported the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) Servicing Action Plan, which
will support representation of our members in this crucial area and ensure servicing continues to im-
prove. Recommendations include hiring a temporary Labour Relations Assistance, outsourcing files,
and utilizing a WSIB expert to review the work process and develop an action plan for the delivery of
future WSIB service.
A The additional $5,000 bursary monies from Johnson Inc., the carrier of our members’ benefits plan,
will be used to support the annual Leadership Conference this June. This is a total of $20,000 from
Johnson Inc.
student leaders. With a tsunami of nurses set to retire in the next few years, we should be making Ontario a more attractive place for nurses to practice, not driving them away.”
Once the award is issued, ONA will hold a special hospital sector meeting to relay its contents to your Local leaders. Because the ar-bitrator’s decision is binding, no ratification votes will be necessary.
For a list of ONA and OHA proposals and other bargaining updates, visit www.ona.org/bargaining.
“Nurses are the very foundation of our health care system and ex-pect wages and benefits reflective of our worth,” concluded Haslam-Stroud. “I am very proud of the work of our Hospital Central Negoti-ating Team in attempting to reach that goal on your behalf.”
I had hoped to be able to write about the details of a negotiated hospital sector agreement this issue, but that has not occurred.
Despite Herculean efforts on the part of your union, ONA was unable to negotiate an agreement for our 58,000 hospital sector members, even with the help of a mediator and an ex-tended deadline. As you read on the cover, the Ontario Hospi-tal Association tabled some proposals that were the most out-rageous any of your team has seen in many years, including a three-per-cent wage cut.
The impact of wage cuts on our profession would be devastat-ing – new graduates so desperately needed would likely look to other jurisdictions for employment, and experienced RNs who are able to retire would be more likely to do so now, not later.
Who would bear the greatest impact? Our patients.But as I’ve said so many times before, ONA never, never, never
gives up. We are fortunate that we have already been out there with our More Nurses messaging, and it is sinking in with Ontarians.
As we await what the arbitra-tor rules for our hospital sector members, ONA has not been idle. During the March PCM, hundreds of you, ONA staff and other union members attended a rally at Queen’s Park to spot-light the impact of nursing cuts on patient care.
We must, in our role as patient advocates, speak out often and clearly about nursing cuts and how the disrespect of nurses hurts our patients. I ask each and every one of you to speak out – to your friends, neighbours, families as well as MPPs – to stop the nursing cuts and the disrespect of our profession. (See the feature section included with this issue for more information on how to get involved.)
ONA is here to support you, both every day in your job and in your advocacy efforts. Please join in and stop nursing cuts – one RN at a time!
Please join in and stop nursing cuts –one RN at a time!
Une infirmière/un infirmier à la fois!
J’avais espéré pouvoir vous parler des détails d’une entente négo-ciée dans le secteur hospitalier ce mois-si, mais ça n’a pas eu lieu.
Malgré les efforts herculéens que nous avons déployés, l’AIIO n’est pas parvenue à négocier une entente pour nos plus de 58 000 membres du secteur hospitalier, même avec l’aide d’un média-teur et une échéance prolongée. Comme vous le découvrirez dans le bul-letin, l’Association des hôpitaux de l’Ontario a déposé des propositions comptant parmi les plus scandaleuses jamais vues par notre équipe depuis des décennies, notamment une réduction de salaire de 3 %.
L’incidence de réductions salariales sur notre profession serait dé-vastatrice.
Qui en subirait les conséquences les plus graves? Nos patients.Pourtant, comme je l’ai dit tant de fois auparavant, nous ne bais-
serons jamais les bras. Nous avons la chance d’être déjà passés par là avec notre message Plus d’infirmières et cette lutte est bien comprise par les Ontariens.
En attendant la décision de l’arbitre concernant ses membres du secteur hospitalier, l’AIIO ne s’est pas tourné les pouces. Lors de l’ACP du mois de mars, des centaines d’entre vous, le personnel de l’AIIO et des membres d’autres syndicats ont participé à un rallye à Queen’s Park afin de mettre en relief l’incidence des compressions de personnel infirmier sur les soins dispensés aux patients.
À titre de porte-parole des patients, nous devons intervenir sou-vent et clairement pour dénoncer les compressions de personnel in-firmier ainsi que la façon dont le manque de respect envers les infir-mières et infirmiers nuit à nos patients. Je demande à chacun d’entre vous de vous exprimer, auprès de vos amis, vos voisins, votre famille et vos députés provinciaux, afin de mettre fin aux compressions de per-sonnel infirmier et au manque de respect à l’égard de notre profession. (Consultez la rubrique incluse dans ce numéro pour obtenir plus de renseignements sur la façon de vous engager dans cette cause.)
L’AIIO est là pour vous soutenir, tant dans le cadre de vos tâches quo-tidiennes que de vos efforts de sensibilisation. Veuillez vous joindre au mouvement pour mettre fin aux compressions de personnel infirmier.
As the Board member responsible for the portfolio of politi-cal action, I talk a lot about the importance of lobbying for needed changes in your communities to improve your work-
ing conditions and the care you are able to provide your patients/clients/residents. And I’d like to give you yet another example of how your local campaigns can make such an enormous difference.
Facing a projected shortfall of $28.4 million combined, The Scarborough Hospital (TSH) and the Rouge Valley Health System had proposed a merger last year, which would have affected hun-dreds of our members and their patients.
Not content to accept this, members of Locals 24 and 111, with the support of ONA leaders and staff, sprung into action, joining the Ontario Health Coalition’s (OHC) campaign to put a stop to this ill-thought-out proposal.
These members were there when the OHC released a report stating the merger would actually cost $30 mil-lion (and $5.5 million per year there-after) and take 10 years to pay off, and that TSH leadership had written a capital redevelopment plan to close down all three sites and replace them with only one or two. They raised the
issue with the media, highlighting that cuts to needed patient care would be the sad result of any merger. They provided material to the public on the urgent need to save their local hospitals and rallied out-side of their MPP offices. And I’m pleased to announce their hard work has paid off.
The TSH Board has since voted to abandon the merger unless the government funds it. These communities have dodged a poten-tially very harmful bullet and they have ONA members to thank.
When members get involved in local campaigns, work with their allies, including the public, seemingly insurmountable ob-stacles can be overcome. If you care about health care in your com-munities – and I know you all do – I encourage you to participate where you can.Our patients/clients/residents are counting on us!
When members get involved in local campaigns, seemingly insurmountable obstacles can be overcome.
Les campagnes des sections locales obtiennent des résultats!
À titre de membre du conseil d’administration responsable du portefeuille de l’action politique, je parle beaucoup de l’impor-tance d’exercer des pressions pour parvenir à des changements
nécessaires dans vos collectivités, afin d’améliorer vos conditions de travail ainsi que les soins que vous fournissez à vos patients/clients/résidents. J’aimerais vous donner un autre exemple de la façon dont les campagnes menées dans vos sections locales peuvent faire une énorme différence.
Faisant face à un déficit combiné projeté de 28,4 millions de dollars, l’Hôpital de Scarborough et le Rouge Valley Health System avaient proposé une fusion l’année dernière, qui aurait entraîné des répercussions sur des centaines de nos membres et de leurs patients. Non contents de cette décision, des membres des sections locales 24 et 111, avec le soutien des dirigeants et du personnel de l’AIIO, se sont mobilisés, se joignant à la campagne de l’Ontario Health Coa-lition (OHC) visant à mettre un frein à cette proposition irréfléchie.
Ces membres étaient présents quand l’OHC a publié un rapport indiquant que la fusion coûterait en réalité 30 millions de dollars (et 5,5 millions de dollars par année par la suite) et mettrait 10 ans à être rentable, et que la direction de l’Hôpital de Scarborough avait élaboré un plan de réaménagement des immobilisations visant à fermer les trois sites et à les remplacer par un ou deux établissements unique-ment. Ces membres ont soulevé cette question auprès des médias, soulignant que toute fusion donnerait lieu à une compression dans les soins essentiels dispensés aux patients. J’ai le plaisir d’annoncer que leurs efforts ont abouti.
Depuis, le conseil de l’Hôpital de Scarborough a voté pour l’aban-don de la fusion, à moins que le gouvernement ne la finance. Ces col-lectivités ont évité de justesse une catastrophe qui aurait pu entraî-ner des conséquences très dommageables et peuvent remercier les membres de l’AIIO.
Quand des membres participent aux campagnes des sections lo-cales et collaborent avec leurs alliés, notamment le public, des obstacles qui semblent insurmontables peuvent alors être franchis. Si vous vous souciez des soins de santé offerts dans vos collectivités, et je sais que c’est le cas, je vous invite à prendre part à l’action là où vous le pouvez.
ONA Calls on Humber River to Finally Implement IAC RecommendationsMore than one year after an Independent Assessment Committee (IAC) issued 40 recommenda-
tions to improve working conditions and the safety of patients at Humber River Hospital’s two
emergency departments (EDs), ONA is questioning why the employer still hasn’t taken action.
The RNs in the Church and Finch Street EDs called for an IAC last year to examine the hospital’s
decision to implement a new model of nursing care. Incidents documented by the RNs included
the use of the ambulance offload area as a “mini-ED,” forcing patient care to be provided in hallways,
regular violent incidents against nurses due to the frustration of patients and families enduring
long waits, and patients discharging themselves because of what they viewed as inadequate care.
The IAC’s recommendations were in the areas of communications, change management, pro-
cesses, nurse safety related to fatigue, safety and security, the physical environment, collaboration
among interprofessional team members and staffing. Of particular note is the recommendation
calling for the identification of the appropriate skill level and staffing mix on the units.
Despite those recommendations, the hospital continues to inappropriately use government
funding for ambulance offload; fails to provide a safe work environment for RNs related to an insuf-
ficient number of security guards; houses acutely ill ICU patients in the ED without appropriate RN
staffing when other hospital units are at capacity; and fails to provide facilities to facilitate proper
infection control procedures.
“ONA has worked persistently over the past five years to develop meaningful and effective solu-
tions to correct these problems, and it’s outrageous that our nurses and their patients continue to
be subjected to these conditions,” said ONA President Linda Haslam-Stroud. “Humber must take the
necessary steps to improve patient and staff safety now.”
If there’s one thing that was abundantly clear at the March Pro-vincial Coordinators Meeting (PCM), held at Toronto’s Westin Harbour Castle Hotel, it’s that ONA members are deeply con-
cerned about the challenges we face and want to help fight back.ONA President Linda Haslam-Stroud set the tone for the PCM,
which took place from March 18-19, right off the bat, stating that we are dealing with three of the biggest challenges she can ever remember: the continuing erosion of RN positions; our struggle to obtain a fair and equitable hospital central agreement; and serious threats by the Tim Hudak-led Conservatives that would result in a two-tiered health care system and destroy our pensions, increase our workloads and impose further wage freezes.
“So we have three strikes against us, which normally means we’d be out,” she said. “Well, I am most definitely not out. But I am asking for your help by moving our message into your commu-
nities. Together, we can advocate for our patients by lobbying for more nurses. Together, we can achieve a collective agreement that respects our work. Together, we can push back against the Tim Hu-daks of this world. And if we do, I am confident that we will make a huge difference to the care we are able to provide – together.”
That momentum was carried into our lunchtime More Nurses rally at Queen’s Park, attended by the majority of delegates, nurs-ing students, ONA staff and our fellow union allies. Emceed by Region 3 Vice-President Andy Summers, the rally featured pas-sionate speeches from Haslam-Stroud, Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions President Linda Silas, who said nurses can’t work any harder than they already do, new Canadian Nursing Students’ Association (CNSA) Ontario Regional Director (ORD) Catherine (Cat) Davy, Local 19 Coordinator and public health nurse Emily Webb and Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario President Sam Hammond, who stressed that teachers are behind ONA every step of the way and will never forget the support we showed during their own battle against the province over Bill 115.
PCM guest speaker Chief Provincial Nursing Officer Debra Bournes focused her remarks on leadership, using the province’s
recent announcement of 75 additional nurse practitioners in long-term care to illustrate her point, and the renewal of the Health-ForceOntario Strategy. Davy and outgoing ORD Nick Alves, who is now the CNSA’s National Communications Director, reiterated how nursing students feel our union’s support every day of the year, evidenced by the fact that we welcomed more students to this PCM than ever before.
And because this was a PCM after all, we heard from several of our members about their initiatives back home, including the team involved in the recent Rouge Valley Health System Independent Assessment Committee hearing (see pg. 7) and Windsor Regional Hospital (WRH) Bargaining Unit President Susan Sommerdyk, who, along with WRH Chief Nursing Executive Karen McCullough, highlighted the success they are having with their electronic pro-fessional workload forms.
Full highlights of the meeting are available at www.ona.org/march14pcm. Our PCM Précis wrap-up video is also available for viewing on our home page and the ONA YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/ ontarionurses.
June PCM Heading to the Country!We are gearing up for our June PCM, which will be hosted by Region 3 at the
beautiful Nottawasaga Inn Resort and Conference Centre in Alliston on June 10 and
11, followed by an education session the next day on defined benefit pension plans.
Further information will be available on our website in the weeks to come.
’s aggressive public campaign calling for an end to nursing cuts to ensure the
best possible care for our patients has officially launched, and its success de-
pends largely on the involvement of our front-line members.
On February 10, 2014, ONA unveiled our More Nurses-themed campaign, which fea-
tures television and subway ads and a “microsite” (website) chalked full of information and
tips on how you and our supporters can help fight for an appropriate number of registered
nurses in our system. The television ad also began airing on February 10 and features six ONA members in a
number of scenarios showing that Ontarians can’t predict when they will need a nurse. That
was followed closely by a similarly-themed transit ad, prominently
The Members’ Publication of the Ontario Nurses’ Association
continues on page 3
ONA
Who better than ONA front-line members to relay the dire consequences of continuing
down the path of eliminating RN positions in our province? In our clever new television and
transit ads, ONA members Marcia Robinson (pictured), along with Cindy Orlicki, Roland
Orlicki, Cathryn Hoy, Eve Edwards and Sabrina (Xiaoxia) Wu, explain what more nurses
means to them.
INDEXUp Front ......................................................... 3Member News ............................................. 6ONA News ...................................................11Queen’s Park Update ...............................15OHC ...............................................................15Occupational Health & Safety ..............16Pensions .......................................................17Student Affiliation ....................................18Education ....................................................19Human Rights and Equity .....................20Awards and Decisions .............................22
ONTARIO NURSES’ ASSOCIATION85 Grenville St., Ste. 400Toronto ON M5S 3A2
Turn the page for an IMPORTANT LETTER from Your ONA President
Coalition Demands Minimum Standard of Care for LTC FacilitiesA coalition of stakeholders in Ontario’s long-term care (LTC) sector, including ONA, is call-
ing on the provincial government to address increasing incidents of violence in LTC homes
by setting a minimum standard of care to be provided in all facilities.
Members of the recently formed group SAFER (Staffing Alliance for Every Resident),
which include seniors’ advocates, non-profit and for-profit facilities, academic researchers
and bargaining agents for nurses and personal support workers (PSWs), is demanding a
fully funded minimum staffing level to be set at four hours of direct care per resident per
day. ONA South District Services Team Manager Bev Mathers is ONA’s representative on the
group’s steering committee.
Since 2002, the Chief Coroner has reported 29 homicides in Ontario LTC homes. As well,
recent evidence shows that among a population of about 80,000 residents, 61 per cent
have a diagnosis of some degree of dementia, 47 per cent have some degree of aggressive
behaviour, and 24 per cent have severe or very severe aggressive behaviour.
“The situation is urgent,” warned Mathers. “Nurses and PSWs are expected to perform
extraordinary duties in providing quality care under very stressful conditions. We need a
comprehensive approach to staffing and funding that is tied directly to front-line care.”
ONA has written a series of letters to the editor to newspapers throughout the province in
response to calls to eliminate the province’s community care access centres (CCACs), specifi-
cally by former Ontario Deputy Health Minister Michael Decter and the Registered Nurses’
Association of Ontario, which calls them “a duplication of existing services and bureaucracy.”
The following is excerpts from one such letter by ONA President Linda Haslam-Stroud, pub-
lished in the Sarnia Observer on February 26, 2014.
To write off CCACs as “needless bureaucracy” is to completely negate the valuable health care
services and quality patient care provided to the public.
CCAC care coordinators work in a variety of settings, ensuring that patients have nursing care
and health care support available in their homes and in hospitals to make assessments and arrange
home supports. ONA knows the system requires improvement to support our care coordinators in
providing more care. However, any proposal to eliminate CCACs will undoubtedly hurt our patients.
ONA has recommended to the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care that, among other chang-
es, it eliminates the current system of contracting out to providers by having the CCAC provide all
home care. This will save costs and decrease bureaucracy while improving reporting and care. ONA
believes Local Health Integration Networks are the very bodies that are driving some of the inconsis-
tencies in care across Ontario, and they should certainly not be handed the CCACs as well.
Hiring more nurses would mean more direct home care provision and an enhanced ability for
care coordinators to conduct home assessments to determine an appropriate care plan. A public
home care system will also reduce the high level of staff turnover as a result of lower wages and
a fragmented delivery of home care services. The end result will be higher-quality home care ser-
vices for our patients. The system must respect the skills of care coordinators to identify the needs
of their patients and be able to ensure that care is received. Our care coordinators need to have
appropriate case loads to ensure they can properly manage and follow their patients.
Let’s not scrap a system that can be easily fixed and ensure that Ontarians who are relying on
care at home or in the community can access it. This province has a valuable asset in care coordi-
nators – let’s allow them to use their experience, knowledge and skills to their full extent, without
barriers and bureaucracy, and help our patients thrive.
The following is a sampling of recent key awards and/or decisions in one or more of the following areas: rights arbitration, interest arbitration, Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB), Long-Term Disability (LTD) and Ontario Labour Relations Board.
RightsSettlement demonstrates power of collective agreement in setting and maintaining RN staffing levels in LTC Region 2 Nursing Home
(October 2013)
In this case, ONA successfully fought against
the erosion of RN hours in a Region 2 nursing
home.
Article 2.06 of the nursing homes collec-
tive agreement provides that the employer
must schedule the same number of RN hours
that were scheduled in the week prior to June
30, 2009. RN hours may be decreased only if
the average resident care requirements, as
measured by the Case Measure Index (CMI)
or occupancy rates, are decreased. This pro-
vision protects RN staffing levels from being
unilaterally decreased by the employer.
In 2013, the employer experienced a
4.76 point decrease in the CMI. In response,
the employer gave ONA notice of layoff, an-
nouncing that it would be cutting the num-
ber of total scheduled RN hours in half, from
317.5 hours weekly to 157.5 hours. This af-
fected five RNs, who subsequently experi-
enced a significant decrease in hours.
ONA filed both union and individual
grievances, alleging that the employer had
violated the collective agreement by improp-
erly laying off ONA members and reducing RN
hours in disproportion to the CMI reduction.
The employer agreed to immediately add
120 RN hours every week to the schedule,
increasing hours to a total of 277.5 hours
weekly, and a further increase by April 2014.
Importantly, the employer confirmed that in
the future, adjustments to RN hours would
be calculated in proportion to adjustments
in the CMI or occupancy rates. The five RNs
who had been affected by the layoff received
compensation for their lost hours.
Importance to ONA: This is a significant vic-
tory in protecting the Bargaining Unit work
of our members in the nursing home sector.
This settlement demonstrates the power of
Article 2.06 in setting and maintaining RN
staffing levels in the long-term care sector.
WSIBMedical evidence substantiates bleach fumes can cause adverse health effectsWest Hospital