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Striking nurses feel 'undervalued'

Nurses with the North East Community Care Access Centre (CCAC) say they feel undervalued as they started a provincewide strike Jan. 30.
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The Ontario Nurses' Association has 296 members with the North East CCAC, who hit the picket lines Jan. 30 after labour negotiations came to an impasse. Photo by Jonathan Migneault.
Nurses with the North East Community Care Access Centre (CCAC) say they feel undervalued as they started a provincewide strike Jan. 30.

“The government has to realize how essential we are to health care,” said Lisa Dumais, a registered nurse and care co-ordinator with the North East CCAC.

Negotiations between nine of Ontario's 14 CCACs, and the nurses' union, came to an impasse earlier this month, and around 2,700 nurses went on strike Jan. 30 after they could not reach an agreement on wages.

The Ontario Nurses' Association has 296 members with the North East CCAC, who hit the picket lines across the region, from Sudbury to Wawa.

“I think this will be a real eye opener, because the more days we're on strike the more difficult it's going to be for the hospitals,” Dumais said.

If the strike continues over the long term, it could create backups at Health Sciences North, where patients might not be discharged as quickly as possible, due to a lack of home-care options.

In a statement, the province's nine affected CCACs said they will continue to provide home-care services to their clients.

“Patients receiving care in homes, schools and clinics will continue to receive these services as per their individualized care plans,” the statement said. “For example, patients being seen by a visiting nurse, therapist or personal support worker will continue these services without interruption.”

Louise McNeil, the Ontario Nurses' Association's local bargaining president in Sudbury, said her members want their wages to be on par with their colleagues in other health-care sectors.

“Our employer feels we are not equal to other nurses in this province,” she said. “Just because we work in community (care) doesn't mean we can't have the same increases that nurses in hospital get, that nurses in public health get and nurses in long-term care get.”

Members in the northeast are also asking for a northern allowance to bring their wages in line with their colleagues at other CCACs, who make $4 an hour more in some cases, with the same job title and level of experience.

Diana Kutchaw, a labour relations officer with the nurses' union, said the union suggested third-party arbitration to settle the wage issue and avoid a strike, but the employer rejected that plan.

“We're not asking for anything other than what our counterparts in other sectors of nursing have received in the last year.”

The CCACs have said the nurses rejected an offer for lump sum wage increases, which was comparable to those in collective agreements with the Ontario Public Service Employees Union and the Canadian Union of Public Employees.

“We are ready to return to the bargaining table at any time to negotiate a settlement and are committed to negotiating agreements that are fair, responsible and reflect our commitment to providing high-quality service with the prudent use of public funds,” said provincial CCAC spokesperson Megan Allen-Lamb, CEO of North Simcoe Muskoka CCAC, in a press release.

In a statement, Ontario Health Minister Eric Hoskins said the province has increased funding to CCACs by five per cent in the last two years, and is providing the home and community care sector with an additional $270 million in 2015.

“Even with these increases, we have asked our public sector partners, including employers and bargaining agents, to work together to control costs so that we can continue to invest in expanding access to services for Ontario families and patients,” he said.

Nickel Belt MPP France Gélinas, the NDP's health critic, said home-care services in Northern Ontario have long been underfunded, while the need for such services has grown.
More than 10,000 people in the northeast receive home care.

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Jonathan Migneault

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