An arbitrator has released his decision for more than 3,000 Community Care Access Centre nurses and health professionals.
Earlier this year, Ontario Nurses’ Association members working at nine provincial CCACs were on strike for 17 days. The union says it was to achieve respect and recognition for the valuable and essential health care they provide in the community.
Workers returned to work after an agreement to send the dispute to arbitration. The hearing was held early in March.
Arbitrator William Kaplan determined workers would receive a 1.4 per cent wage increase in each of two years. ONA members in the two northern Ontario CCACs will receive a 1.4 per-cent increase in year one and a 3.4 per-cent increase in year two – providing them with a degree of catch-up pay with their southern counterparts.
The increases are retroactive to April 1, 2014.
“Mr. Kaplan’s award acknowledges our highly skilled and valuable RNs and health professionals, giving them respect they so rightly deserve,” said ONA president Linda Haslam-Stroud.
The contract will expire on March 31, 2016. As the next round of bargaining approaches, Haslam-Stroud says that she hopes that the employers rethink their approach.
“It is always ONA’s intent to reach a negotiated agreement,” she says. “But we must have a willing partner.”
