TORONTO, April 19, 2024 /CNW/ - Collective bargaining for registered nurses (RNs) and health-care professionals with the province's for-profit nursing homes has broken down just three days into five days of scheduled negotiations, with no deal reached, says the Ontario Nurses' Association (ONA).

"There are no words to express my outrage at these private, for-profit nursing homes chains coming to the bargaining table with such breathtaking disrespect for our members and the work they do," says ONA Provincial President Erin Ariss, RN. "How dare these corporate nursing home chains prioritize maximizing their profits at the expense and total disregard for the need to provide quality care for their residents?"

Ariss says that the system is teetering on catastrophe now, and these chains are showing complete and utter disrespect for their workers. "Ontarians should be very concerned about the health and safety of long-term care residents and those providing care" she adds.

Just this week, a report obtained by The Canadian Press showed that the Ford government will likely be unable to reach its own targets for direct care for residents of long-term care due to the severe nursing shortage.

"If we want to begin to retain and recruit enough nurses and health-care professionals in long-term care, corporations must redirect some of their significant profits to providing wages equal to other health-care sectors," says Ariss. "ONA has been clear: residents deserve excellent care and the way to achieve that is staffing ratios and equal wages. Insulting staff who go above and beyond for their residents is only going to drive more workers away from these homes."

Ariss says that "ONA is not going to tolerate the disrespect of these chains. We have taken to the streets to protest and inform Ontarians, and there is much more to come. We will not allow our residents and members to continue to be the victims of corporate greed and the outdated mentality of these corporations who continue to line their pockets at the expense of everyone else."

ONA is the union representing more than 68,000 registered nurses and health-care professionals, as well as 18,000 nursing student affiliates, providing care in hospitals, long-term care facilities, public health, the community, clinics and industry.

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SOURCE Ontario Nurses' Association

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