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HB NEWS NURSES CALL FOR BETTER WAGES AND STAFFING DURING PICKET DAVID LEA dlea@metroland.com gistered nurses and healt care professionals better staffing, anc care for patients. The small protest was a large province- wide action by the Ontario Nurses’ Association (ONA), which is bargaining for a new hospital sector con- tract with the Ontario Hos- pital Association. Laurie Rogers, who has worked asa nurse at Milton District Hospital and OTMH and is also part of ONA'S central negotiating ays wage in- peo for Onlarios nurs- es have been at a near standstill since the prov- ince introduced Bill 124 in 2019. The bill, which was re- cently deemed unconstitu- ti iL ipped wage in- creases for public sector employees at one per cent anmual’y for three years. ‘gues the bill couldnt have come at a worse time. “Over the last two years, with this and COVID nurs- es have been leaving in droves," she said. "Almost 24 per cent of Ontario's nurses are plan- ning to retire in the next fives years. So, we're looking at areal deficit and in order forusto even, catch upto the other ces, 24,000 n¢ nurses need to be hired.” Rogers said a decent wage increase is needed to help make the job attractive again and draw both past nurses and new recruits to the profession. from quitting or leaving to become nurses in other provinces where pay is bet- A PLACE,TO Ve Gu JOIN US FOR A TOUR AND LUNCH. DELMANOR Glen Abbey Inspired Retirement Living™ 1459 NOTTINGHILL GATE OAKVILLE 905-469-3232 ter and the workload is not as demanding. The Halton nurse de- scribed the exhausting ex- perience of working through the pandemic and noted something has to change. "It has been very diffi- cult. You're being) pushed to keep going. 're short staffed and you ‘reol guilty about leaving your co- workers. So, what do you do? push youset more. It gets very tiring, and people get burnt out, said {Rogers. ry time there are workload i issues right now all the hospitals can say is, "Well, we're trying to That's not good enough. Nurses are still working at unsafe ratios. Your wor- kload is almost twice what to return to a safe nurse to patient ratio so the nurses can spend more time with individual patients to en- sure nothing gets missed when it comes to their care. She also argued doing right by public nurses and health care professionals is cheaper than the tive, which has seen expen- sive agency nurses brought staffing shortages. Rogers also spoke out against privatization not- systems would just result in more nurses leaving the public system fe ford the private one. for com- ment Hi Jensen, a Spokesperson for Ontario’ 'S , noted tat Sere _ Tad govern- ment took office in 2018, more than 60,000 new nurs- es and nearly 8,000 new doc- tors have registered to work tario. Jensen acknowledged more needs to be done z g z 5 Sylvia Jones unveiled the "Your Health" plan that looks at ways to tackle wait Nurses, healthcare David Lea/Metroland ters picket outsid id Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital. times and options for hiring more health care workers. ‘We have launched the largest medical school ex- pansion in Ontarioin overa decade, while also breaking down barriers for interna- tionally educated health care workers and allowing health care workers regis- in_ othe! ately start working in Onta- rio," said Jensen. “Our all hands-on-deck approach to transform our health-care system and bol- ster our workforce will pro- vide further connected, convenient care for all On tarians." Rogers. argued | that if the ‘ive other provinces or any- where else to work in Onta- rio. ONA has described the Feb. 23 pickets as part of a series of escalating ac- tions. The union represents 68,000 nurses and health care profession- als, as well as 18,000 nursing student affiliates. ! Watson Investments “Our clients enjoy talking about their retirement dreams and we enjoy helping them get there.” Accepting new clients. Please visit Peter & Jennifer com to book a free consultation. Offering safe virtual meetings and e-signatures for new client onboarding. info@watsoninvestments.com ®& (905) 842 -2100 Jennifer Watson MBA, CFP®, CIM® Founded in 1997 Peter Watson MBA, CFP®, R.F.P., CIM®, FCS! £207 ‘Z YEW ‘Aepsinyy | Jeneeg aAxEO | 6 i 3 3