Nurses' union rep expresses optimism about wage increase ruling

THUNDER BAY — It took the efforts of an arbitrator to get a deal done between the Ontario Hospital Association and the Ontario Nurses Association.

In the first contract since the introduction of Bill 124, arbitrator William Kaplan stepped into failed talks and awarded raises that average 11 per cent over two years.

Donna Wheal, the Ontario Nurses Association Local 73 bargaining unit president and local coordinator in Thunder Bay, said the arbitrator was able to see that nurses were behind in wages.

“It’s been so long [since] the wage suppression with Bill 124, we felt disrespected. To hear 11 per cent over two years, it just gives you a feeling [of] things are going to get better, and by better I mean, hopefully we’ll get more nurses at the bedside [of patients],” Wheal said.

Locally, the deal affects 1,200 workers at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre and another 180 with St. Joseph's Care Group.

The Progressive Conservatives introduced Bill 124 in 2019 to cap the wage increases of Ontario Public Service employees at one percent, effective for a three-year moderation period.

Thunder Bay regional hospital president and CEO Rhonda Crocker Ellacott said she will be briefed on the deal on Monday, but added that all health care workers deserve to be paid fairly and equitably.

“Any and all opportunities to look to value a better value, create better equity for health care workers is always a positive step,” Crocker Ellacott said. “I'll go to the ends of the earth to advocate for appropriate pay and really value and equity for our health care workers.”

Wheal agrees with Crocker Ellacott about doing everything possible to help alleviate some stress in an understaffed system.

“If you don't have wages to go along in the profession for the role, you, people will either come and go pivot on their degree,” Wheal noted. “[We’ve] lost people to the United States, we have lost people to agency nurses. We need to get them back and we need a wage to get them back.”

An Ontario court found Bill 124 unconstitutional late last year, but the government has appealed that decision.