Nurses from Alberta and across Canada support striking Ontario nurses

In a show of solidarity this morning, representatives of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions including members of United Nurses of Alberta joined striking nurses and others on the picket line at an Ontario Community Care Access Centre worksite in Smiths Falls, Ont.

Almost 3,000 CCAC health professionals represented by the Ontario Nurses' Association have been forced onto the picket lines by their employer, which is funded by the government of Ontario, as the workers struggle to negotiate a fair collective agreement.

ONA bargaining units at CCAC sites throughout the province have been seeking very small wage increases equal to the percentages given to the other 57,000 members of ONA in the hospital, public health and long-term care sectors.

The CCAC members had a two-year wage freeze in their last contract, which expired March 31, 2014. Nine of the 10 bargaining units have voted to strike. Workers in Hamilton Niagara Haldimand Brant have ratified a new agreement.

ONA’s CCAC members include Registered Nurses, nurse practitioners, Registered Practical Nurses (the equivalent of LPNs in Alberta), social workers, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists and allied health professionals.

On freezing picket lines outside the Smiths Falls site Perth and Smiths Falls District Hospital this morning were leaders from nurses unions from Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, alongside the Ontario Nurses’ Association and CFNU.

CFNU President, Linda Silas, proud to stand in frigid weather with the striking nurses in Perth, said: “These nurses are the essential link between our acute care sector and patients receiving necessary care at home.”

“Home care and community care must not be treated as the poor cousin in our health care system,” she stated.

“Home care and community care are an essential part of the health care system in every province and territory, and UNA strongly supports the right of these nurses and other health care workers to be fairly compensated for this important work on behalf of patients and their families,” said UNA President Heather Smith, who was on the picket line in Smith’s Falls this morning.

For more information, visit the website of the Ontario Nurses' Association.