After five days at the bargaining table, the professional association representing Ontario's nurses is signalling trouble in contract talks with the Ontario Hospital Association.
The Ontario Hospital Association represents the CEOs of the province's hospitals.
The Ontario Nurses Association said its staffing ratio is its top priority in talks. That's how many nurses care for a specific number of patients.
"Hospital CEOs and the Ford government have been intentionally understaffing our public hospitals to justify selling off public services to private, for-profit clinics," said ONA Provincial President Erin Ariss, RN. "Staffing ratios are the real solution to the crisis in our hospitals, not-for-profit health care."
The two sides will meet with a mediator on January 29 and 30, and ONA members have a series of escalating job actions planned in the coming weeks.
"Hospital CEOs are pushing for changes that would decimate the health workforce, and their proposal has the fingerprints of the Ford government all over it," said Ariss. "We are no longer staying silent. We are fighting back. Hospital CEOs and this government are on notice. If they pursue this agenda, they had better be prepared for the fight of their lives."
The ONA represents over 68,000 registered nurses, healthcare professionals, and 18,000 nursing student affiliates.
WindsorNewsToday.ca reached out to the Ontario Hospital Association for comment and received a response from Kirk LeMessurier, the OHA's chief of communications and public affairs.
“The Ontario Hospital Association and Ontario’s hospitals are working towards an agreement that recognizes the enormous value of registered nurses," he said. "The claims made by the Ontario Nurses' Association regarding understaffing are false. However, the OHA respects the collective bargaining process and so our organization will not be commenting further on this matter to ensure that negotiations take place at the bargaining table rather than in the public domain.”