Ontario hospital nurses awarded additional pay after Bill 124 struck down
Ontario hospital nurses should get retroactive pay for three years during which they were subject to a wage restraint law that has since been ruled unconstitutional, arbitrators have ruled.
The 2019 law, known as Bill 124, capped wage increases for the nurses and other public sector workers at one per cent a year for three years.
It was ruled unconstitutional in November and though the government is appealing that, the Ontario Nurses' Association sought retroactive pay through an arbitrator, since the contracts were subject to be reopened if Bill 124 was repealed or declared invalid.
Arbitrators have now awarded the nurses an additional 0.75 per cent wage increase for the year starting April 1, 2020, an additional one per cent for the following year and an additional two per cent for the final year.
The first two years are dealt with in one arbitration decision and the third year in another, and in the latter decision the arbitrator writes that the "indisputable staffing crises in nursing" were factors.
"Recruitment and retention are critical considerations that we cannot ignore in rendering our award," the arbitrator wrote.
"In our view, in all the circumstances, including having regard to inflation and the market forces impacting nurses in particular, and the need to recruit and retain nurses in Ontario's hospitals, we find it appropriate to grant the Association's proposal for a 3 per cent general wage increase (i.e., an additional 2 per cent above what this board has already ordered), retroactive to April 1, 2022."
Hospitals had been urging 0.75 per cent for each year, but the arbitrators said that would not be sufficient.
"Such an increase would not have addressed the staffing crisis or reflected the demand that existed for nurses outside of the artificial constraints of Bill 124, even at that time," the arbitrator wrote.
The nurses' association says, however, that those amounts still don't reflect the value of registered nurses, and won't be enough to address staff shortages in the profession.
"The retroactive wage adjustments from these recent decisions are simply too little, too late to address the significant health-care staffing shortages that are hurting patient care," interim president Bernie Robinson wrote in a statement.
"They utterly fail to address the relentless decay in working conditions for a workforce that has been on the front lines for Ontarians throughout a deadly pandemic, nor do they do anything to address existing gender inequity."
One of the arbitration awards also condenses the wage grid between eight years and 25.
Arbitration is set to be held over two days next week for the hospital nurses' next contract.
ONA members working in the charitable homes sector have also been awarded an additional 0.75 per cent in each of the three years, the union said.
Earlier this year, paramedics at Ornge were awarded an additional one per cent each year for three years following the Bill 124 ruling.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 28, 2023.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'We are declaring our readiness': No decision made yet as Poland declares it's ready to host nuclear weapons
Polish President Andrzej Duda says while no decision has been made around whether Poland will host nuclear weapons as part of an expansion of the NATO alliance’s nuclear sharing program, his country is willing and prepared to do so.
Deadly six-vehicle crash on Highway 400 sparked by road rage incident
One person was killed in a six-vehicle crash on Highway 400 in Innisfil Friday evening.
Invasive and toxic hammerhead worms make themselves at home in Ontario
Ontario is now home to an invasive and toxic worm species that can grow up to three feet long and can be dangerous to small animals and pets.
Harvey Weinstein hospitalized after return to New York from upstate prison
Harvey Weinstein’s lawyer said Saturday that the onetime movie mogul has been hospitalized for a battery of tests after his return to New York City following an appeals court ruling nullifying his 2020 rape conviction.
Central Alberta queer groups react to request from Red Deer-South to reinstate Jennifer Johnson to UCP caucus
A number of LGBQT+2s groups in Central Alberta are pushing back against a request from the Red Deer South UCP constituency to reinstate MLA Jennifer Johnson into the UCP caucus.
Opinion I just don't get Taylor Swift
It's one thing to say you like Taylor Swift and her music, but don't blame CNN's AJ Willingham's when she says she just 'doesn't get' the global phenomenon.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
First court appearance for boy and girl charged in death of Halifax 16-year-old
A girl and a boy, both 14 years old, made their first appearance today in a Halifax courtroom, where they each face a second-degree murder charge in the stabbing death of a 16-year-old high school student.
It's 30 years since apartheid ended. South Africa's celebrations are set against growing discontent
South Africa marked 30 years since the end of apartheid and the birth of its democracy with a ceremony in the capital Saturday that included a 21-gun salute and the waving of the nation's multicolored flag.