Ontario Nurses’ Association in Negotiations
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2025/01/30 (Unpublished)
Erin Ariss is a registered nurse and the Provincial President of the Ontario Nurses’ Association (ONA). With decades of emergency department experience, she is a dedicated advocate for nurses and public health care. Ariss has been instrumental in addressing issues such as access to personal protective equipment during the pandemic and promoting workplace safety. The Ontario Nurses’ Association (ONA) and the Ontario Hospital Association (OHA) are in contract negotiations under a nondisclosure agreement, but their proposals are starkly opposed. ONA prioritizes improved RN staffing ratios to address overwhelming workloads, enhance patient care, and reduce nurse attrition. Ontario has the worst RN-to-population ratio in Canada, leading to ER closures and delays. ONA warns that hospital CEOs’ proposals could trigger a mass nurse exodus. The negotiations are crucial as ONA seeks an agreement rather than arbitration, which has determined contracts for 14 years. ONA questions the origins of OHA’s far-reaching proposals, raising broader concerns.
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: What are the main issues with the current contract negotiations between the Ontario Nurses’ Association (ONA) and the Ontario Hospital Association (OHA)?
Erin Ariss: We cannot get specific as both the OHA and ONA are negotiating under a nondisclosure agreement. However, what we can say is that our two organizations have come to the table with proposals that couldn’t be more opposite.
Jacobsen: Why are RN staffing ratios a top priority for front-line members of ONA?
Ariss: The number-one priority of our members is better workloads that would allow them to provide the best-quality patient care they can. The impossibly heavy workloads they have experienced for years now have taken a large toll on them, and our patients are not receiving the best care that they both need and deserve because of time constraints. Nurse staffing ratios have been introduced elsewhere and have been shown to reduce the rates of complications and death in patients, and resulted in lower attrition rates for nurses. Overall they are a cost savings. They are win-win.
Jacobsen: How does ONA President Erin Ariss characterize the understaffing in public hospitals?
Ariss: Ontario’s understaffing is the worst in Canada. An annual report (CIHI) shows Ontario has consistently had the worst RN-to-population ratio in the country for almost a decade. That has led to ER closures, delays in care, hallway medicine and cancelled surgeries.
Jacobsen: What might be the potential consequences based on the proposals of hospital CEOs?
Ariss: It’s not an exaggeration to say the proposals put forward by hospital CEOs would result in an exodus of nurses and health-care professionals from our hospitals across the province. It will make things much, much worse.
Jacobsen: Is this similar to the consequences to proposals from the Ford government)?
Ariss: We do not bargain with the government in the hospital sector. But the proposals from the OHA are so far-reaching, we question where they came from.
Jacobsen: Why is this round of negotiations significant given the last negotiation happening 14 years ago?
Ariss: The last negotiation happened two years ago. That ended in arbitration, as did every other round of negotiations for the past 14 years. ONA is pushing for the OHA to reach an agreement for its 60,000+ nurses and health-care professionals in negotiations, NOT send the matter to an arbitrator again, who will impose a contract.
Jacobsen: Thank you for the opportunity and your time, Erin.
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