March 14, 2014
The Ontario Nurses' Association (ONA) is warning
that contract demands tabled by the Ontario Hospital Association (OHA)
would lead to a nursing crisis reminiscent of the Harris government
years. Contract talks broke down when the OHA team walked away from the
table, forcing arbitration this weekend. The OHA is proposing
unprecedented rollbacks for RNs. The
current collective agreement between ONA's 58,000-plus hospital-sector registered nurses (RNs) and their employers expires on March 31.
"The
OHA's proposals of cuts to wages and benefits will have a profound
effect on the supply of nurses in Ontario that directly impacts the
quality of care that Ontarians can expect to receive," said ONA
President Linda Haslam-Stroud, RN. "The proposed new system of RN wage
cuts would send a strong message that registered nurses are not valued
and prompt new RN graduates to look south of the border or to other
provinces to practice."
Haslam-Stroud is appalled at what has been
tabled at arbitration by the employer. She says that, "We will not
bargain away our future or our ability to provide quality patient care."
ONA is committed to negotiating an agreement that reflects the value
RNs provide to the patients of Ontario, and that does not include
cutbacks.
"This province, which has the second-worst
RN-to-population ratio in the country, needs to attract new nurses and
keep the experienced RNs we have now on the job as long as possible. Yet
the OHA's arbitration proposals will do exactly the reverse," said
Haslam-Stroud. "We know that there is a tsunami of experienced RNs
poised to retire, and we can't replace them fast enough. Why - when we
desperately need new graduates coming into the system and our Northern
and rural communities are begging for more RNs - would we make the
profession less attractive and disrespect the years of education and
training our members have?"
She also notes that "research - including a very recent
study published in
The Lancet --
has found that cutting RN care increases the rate of complications and
death suffered by patients. Alternatively, increasing RN staffing
improves patient health outcomes and prevents unnecessary hospital
readmissions."
Unsafe RN staffing levels have become more common
as hospitals have cut RN positions to balance budgets; increasingly, RNs
are finding they are unable to provide care consistent with the
standards set by their regulator. Ontario has cut more than 1,000 RN
positions in the past two years.
A long list of nursing expert
panel investigations into RN staffing levels - at Rouge Valley Health
System, Kingston General Hospital, Sault Area Hospital, Humber River
Regional Hospital, Peterborough Regional Hospital and Orillia Soldiers'
Memorial Hospital - have found that RNs are unable to provide proper
patient care under current conditions and that the hospital work
environments do not support quality nursing practice.
"I'm
dumbfounded that at a time when experts are using phrases such as
'significant suffering' to describe the quality and safety of patient
care that is occurring because of RN understaffing, the OHA want to
worsen it," said Haslam-Stroud. "The Ontario government and the OHA are
telling RNs that they are worth less than they were a year ago. They
should instead focus on ensuring that our patients get the safe, quality
care they deserve, not on gutting RN contracts."
Ontario RNs
have been falling further behind in remuneration compared to the rest of
Canada. ONA members' wages were frozen for two years in their last
contract and now a three per-cent rollback of wages has now been
proposed. The lack of a competitive wage would also likely drive
experienced RNs to retire, compounding the nursing shortage. "Asking
nurses to be paid less than ever is a slap in the face to the entire
profession and to Ontarians," she says.
ONA is the union
representing registered nurses, nurse practitioners, registered
practical nurses and allied health professionals, as well as nursing
student affiliates providing care in hospitals, long-term care
facilities, public health, the community, clinics and industry.
http://www.ona.org/news_details/ONA_no_concessions_20140314.html
