Our History: 1990-1999

To go directly to a specific year, select from the following:

1990 - 1991 - 1992 - 1993 - 1994 - 1995

1990

Lesley Bell, RN, is president.

The year-old blacklisting of Toronto General Hospital plus the hospital's failure to implement Regulation 83/89 under the Public Hospitals Act prompts ONA to oppose a proposed merger of Women's College Hospital and the Toronto Hospital Corporation. ONA's Executive Committee votes in January to go on record as opposing the merger in response to a request by Shelley O'Neill. RN. president of Local 80 at WCH. A strong lobby of WCH staff (including nurses), six WCH directors and numerous community members wages a six-month battle to block the merger, and eventually does. The plan is scrapped in late January.
When 15 pro-merger members resign from the WCH board, ONA reps gain two seats on the revamped board, Cynthia Crawford, RN, ONA's Region 6 Representative, and Rose Briscoe, RN, a former ONA president.
The Ontario Hospital Association proposes a 4 per cent reduction in the percentage in lieu of benefits for part-time workers, but ONA vigorously opposes the move and makes plans to take the issue to the bargaining table later this year. Over 18,000 part-time nurses were deemed eligible to voluntarily participate in the Hospitals of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP) the previous year by order of the Ontario Superintendent of Pensions, but hospitals are slow to implement the order. The Superintendent upholds ONA's assertion that the OHA has been violating the Pension Benefits Act since Jan. 1, 1988 by denying part-time nurses access to the plan.
A coroner's jury looking into the death of an 11-year-old boy denied admission to Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children for two weeks because of bed closures, recommends that scholastic bursary programs be introduced to help battle the critical nursing shortage. The jury recommends that nurses who train while receiving financial assistance should be required to work in the field for a mandatory period after graduation. The nursing shortage was deemed responsible for causing severe hardship on patients and parents at the hospital. Later on in the year. Sick Kids' will implement a cash bonus plan for nurses to stem the tide of departures.
ONA bids a sorrowful goodbye to long-time staffer Paula Ponder, who passes away on Feb. 16 in Toronto. Ms. Pender, ONA's Manager of Membership Benefits, had been on staff for 25 years with ONA and the RNAO, playing a key support role when ONA was first established as a union on Oct. 13, 1973.
February - It is announced that about 32,500 provincial civil servants - mostly women - are to get $83.8 million in pay equity increases over the next two years, retroactive to Jan. 1, 1990, in an agreement between the government and OPSEU. The payments would equal 2.7 per cent of the provincial payroll and more than 100 job classifications would see pay equity increases in their hourly wages with the agreement. However the government has yet to address the issue of the roughly 700,000 other women workers in Ontario, like hospital nurses, who have no male-dominated jobs to compare to, and are thus excluded from the legislation. Women comprise 98 per cent of the nursing workforce.
April - The Toronto Hospital Corp., an amalgamation of Toronto Western and Toronto General hospitals, threatens to lay off about 30 staff and close 76 beds to avoid a budget deficit of about $14 million this year, after hospitals in Ontario received a directive from the Ministry of Health to balance their budgets by the end of the fiscal year. Hospital President Vickery Stoughton says no nursing jobs are affected, but not all who are leaving will be replaced. The corporation already had closed 154 of its 1,630 beds.
The critical nursing shortage prompts Sick Kids' Hospital in Toronto to cut back on surgery, with intensive care having barely enough qualified staff to cope with the needs of its patients.
Nursing's activist stance really shows up during Nurses' Week. A number of locals participate in protest-type activities, such as wearing black ribbons to "mourn" for those nurses who have left the profession. Many members participate in and encourage interviews with local television, radio and newspapers, taking the opportunity to discuss why nurses are unhappy with their profession and why so many are leaving. Nurses wore T-shirts that said, "Nurses Care but it's not in the budget" and buttons featuring a broken heart to indicate how nurses are broken-hearted about the state of nursing today.
New legislation to replace the Health Disciplines Act is tabled in legislature by Health Minister Elinor Caplan and receives first reading. The Health Professions Regulation Act. Bill 178, will govern all health professions including nursing, and establishes legal and procedural mechanisms to determine whether nurses reported to the College are incompetent, guilty of professional misconduct or incapacitated. In addition, the legislation requires Councils of each profession to establish a quality assurance mechanism.
August - Ontario revs up for a provincial election after Premier David Peterson makes the call just three years after his landslide win in 1987. ONA's election machine gets into gear with members being urged to bombard candidates with questions about nursing issues. * ONA teams up with Hospital Staffing Services Inc. to provide travel nurses in Ontario. The publicly owned U.S. company provides nursing personnel to leading medical institutions in the U.S., Canada, Britain and Australia. The Board of Directors sees this as a way to stop nurses from leaving the workforce and to alleviate the nursing shortage. ONA also launches the ONA Agency, its own nursing personnel agency for Ontario hospitals.
More nurses get elected to hospital Boards of Governors. At McKellar General in Thunder Bay, three of the four ONA candidates who ran in a slate of eight were elected, including Harold Spears, RN, Marg MacLeod, RN, and Doreen Bruce, RN. At Thunder Bay's Hogarth-Westmount Hospital, one nurse was elected from a slate of five candidates, Margaret Dyck, RN. Two nurses were previously elected to the Board at Soldier's Memorial in Orillia. An attempt to get a nurse elected to the Board at Barrio's Royal Victoria Hospital was unsuccessful.
Ontario hospitals are still dragging their heels on enrolling part-time nurses to the Hospitals of Ontario Pension Plan, although OHA President Gordon Cunningham circulates a memo making it clear that they are obligated to sign up part-timers who meet the minimum enrolment requirements of the Pension Benefits Act. Robert Hawkes, Superintendent of Pensions in Ontario, indicates he is prepared to issue a compliance order against hospital employers who are slow to implement the directive.
Sept. 6 - Ontario residents elect a huge NDP government majority of 74 MPPs, shocking the Liberals and surprising NDP Premier-elect Bob Rae, who had been vocal in his support of nurses as Opposition leader.
ONA blacklists the Regional Municipality of Haldimand-Norfolk because of the agency's | continued violation of the collective agreement and harassment of nurses in Local 78 for union activity. ONA's Court of Appeals date with Haldimand-Norfolk over the pay equity issue is pending. The blacklisting bolsters the lineup of agencies to four, including Toronto General by Local 97, the Sudbury and District Health Unit by Local 87 and the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit by Local 33. The Regional Municipality of Peel becomes the fifth agency to make the list in October at the request of Local 61.
Sept. 19 - The Ontario government says it will not intervene in ONA's pay equity case against the Regional Municipality of Haldimand-Norfolk, which was to be heard by the Ontario Court of Appeal on Sept. 24. In his first act as Ontario Premier-elect, Bob Rae drops government opposition to the Pay Equity Hearings Tribunal decision that public health and homes for the aged nurses in the region shared the same employer as the regional police and could therefore use the police as potential male comparators in pay equity negotiations.
The region had appealed the tribunal's decision, which had been upheld by the Supreme Court of Ontario, while former Attorney General lan Scott planned to intervene in the case at the Court of Appeals. He withdrew at the request of Mr. Rae.
The National Council of Welfare releases a report which says that more than 1.5 million Canadian women aged 16 and over live in poverty. The report shows that legal advances made by women in the 1980's have done little to change their historical impoverishment. Never-married single mothers have the highest poverty rate at 75 per cent.
ONA urges the provincial government not to let patient classification systems for long term care services replace assessment of nursing care plans, in response to a government discussion paper on reform for Ontario's long term care services. Patient classification systems are a funding model designed to enable homes for the aged and nursing homes to provide care for people with the greatest need and identify the services required to meet them.
Sept. 27 - The Ontario Court of Appeal upholds a Pay Equity Tribunal and Divisional Court decision supporting ONA's contention that public health nurses and nurses working in two municipal homes could be compared with regional police in determining pay equity adjustments. * Nurses at Local 186, Chapleau General Hospital, stage an information picket to show their dissatisfaction over working conditions. Overtime is at an all-time high for nurses in northern Ontario as a result of the critical nursing shortage.
ONA blacklists the Regional Municipality of Peel because of violations of the collective agreement and harassment of nurses for union activity at Local 62, Sheridan Villa and Peel Manor.
Oct. 1 - A record 11 women are named to Bob Rae's new 25-member provincial NDP cabinet. Evelyn Gigantes, the new Health Minister, would later resign after making public the name of a patient who had gone for drug treatment in the U.S. at OHIP's expense. Frances Lankin, a former provincial negotiator for OPSEU, takes over the health portfolio in her place.
Manitoba nurses strike, capping a season of unrest in the nursing ranks. Roughly 10,500 walk off the job for better pay and working conditions.
Nov. 14 - Bob Rae becomes the first Ontario premier to address ONA members at an annual meeting.
ONA member Bonnie Lambert, RN, president of Local 117, is named to a committee responsible for the development of a new home for the aged by Thunder Bay City Council.
In Toronto, three ONA members win seats on the Eastern Area Community Health Board for the City of Toronto. Shelley O'Neill. RN, president of Local 80 at Women's College Hospital, Jim Fraser, RN, president of Local 97 at Toronto General Hospital and Soo Wong, RN. a member of Local 57 at the City of York Health Unit are the newly-named reps, Wong for her third time. O'Neill goes on to become chair of the CHB, and the following November will enter the municipal election as a candidate for Toronto City Council.

1991

Eileen Davidson, RN, is president.

February - ONA comes to a tentative agreement with the OHA on a central contract for full time and part time hospital nurses. A hospital sector meeting is booked for early March to present details of the contract to Local presidents and contacts to take to members for discussion and a ratification vote.
Local 33 lifts its blacklisting of the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit, which was instituted in March, 1988 following a long and bitter strike of public health nurses.
March 22 - ONA's 43,000 hospital nurses ratify the new two-year collective agreement with 176 hospitals in an 87 per cent vote. The contract boosts nurses' salaries by up to 29.3 per cent, bringing senior RNs' salaries to $52,000 at $26.67 an hour, as of April 1, 1992. The contract also increases the span between minimum and maximum wage levels, and contains improvements in shift premiums, weekend premiums and responsibility pay. It is the second consecutive contract that has been fully negotiated by ONA prior to expiration of the existing collective agreement, without resorting to binding arbitration.
ONA bids a fond farewell to Jean Lowery, RN, founding member and inaugural president of the Union, who retires. Lowery has been Director of Human Resources since 1981, was a former Director of Association Services and an ERO for four years. As a nurse she worked in psychiatry, community health, home care and VON before launching an active career as a nursing unionist.
April - The OHA's 176 hospitals ratify the new central collective agreement, but begin making ominous threats of nurse layoffs, blaming the big wage increase. The Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa is among the first to declare its intentions, threatening to cut 40 positions, with nurses' jobs comprising half of them.
The provincial government announces changes to the Unemployment Insurance Act and family leave provisions of the Employment Standards Act. The UI changes limit access to regular benefits but family-related benefits see some improvement. Changes to the Employment Standards Act are substantial.
May - The Saskatchewan Union of Nurses end a strike of 6,000 nurses, ratifying an agreement that brings a 9.2 per cent increase over two years.
May 29 - A landmark decision of the Pay Equity Tribunal comes down upholding all major grounds in ONA's 1989 complaint against the Regional Municipality of Haldimand-Norfolk, finding that the region violated the Pay Equity Act by bargaining in bad faith. The Tribunal finds that the job evaluation system used to determine pay equity adjustments failed to identify and rectify systemic discrimination in compensating ONA members in the region's health units and two homes for the aged.
ONA calls for the regulation of all facilities housing vulnerable adults in a submission to the Ontario Commission of Inquiry into Unregulated Residential Accommodation.
ONA urges members to voice their concerns regarding the proposed Regulated Health Professions Act, which receives second reading on May 29 (it was introduced and received first reading on April 2). Public hearings are slated to commence in late August and early September, 1991.
June 26 - The Pension Commission of Ontario releases an important decision determining that HOOPP is a multi-employer pension plan created pursuant to a trust agreement. As a result, the Pension Benefits Act requires HOOPP to be administered by a Board of Trustees, of whom at least one-half must be representatives of the members of the plan. This decision has been appealed to the courts by the OHA, but when the decision is ultimately confirmed, should mean a much stronger voice for ONA members in determining how the plan is administered.
Aug. 7 - ONA President Eileen Davidson, RN, tells a provincial committee in a hard-hitting presentation that the proposed Regulated Health Professions Act fails to recognize nurses as autonomous members of the health care team and that it will drive even more nurses out of the profession. Davidson says the legislation would make it more difficult to recruit and retain talented young people for the profession.
ONA unveils its new Disputes Resolution II program at the Guelph Labour School as the first step in a plan to offer a three-tier education system to ONA members, including basic, intermediate and advanced levels.
ONA terminates its agreement with Hospital Staffing Services Inc. on Sept. 18. because the company has failed to live up to its agreement.
The non-union Kitchener-Waterloo General Hospital is found to have violated the Labour Relations Act by discriminating against over 100 unionized nurses from the displaced obstetric and pediatric units at St. Mary's Hospital, ONA Local 55. The Ontario Labour Relations Board decision in late October culminates two years of hearings into a complaint by Local 55, whose members were displaced in 1989 following a realignment of hospital services in Kitchener and Waterloo. ONA's bid to win successor rights to bargain for the nurses is rejected by the Board, but the Union is still seeking recognition for service and seniority for the 27 nurses who had agreed to transfer to the K-W unit.
November - ONA comes to terms with the Ontario Nursing Homes Association on a new and historic agreement for nurses in nursing homes. It is the first time nurses in the homes sector have their collective agreement negotiated centrally; 46 homes participate. A ratification vote is slated for later in the month.
The Toronto Hospital Corporation says it may lay off up to 350 staffers and close beds between its Toronto General and Toronto Western components because of a major budget deficit. St. Michael's Hospital reports that it has a crushing $63 million deficit - the biggest of any hospital in Ontario. These are just the latest two to report in with huge deficits in a problem that is reflected across the province. The OHA says it will need an increase in funding of 8.6 per cent or $630.7 million for hospitals next year. OHA president Dennis Timbrell says that for every 1 per cent in increased funding the hospitals don't get, it would mean 1,700 less jobs and 475 to 500 fewer beds.
Nov. 8 - ONA's unfair labour practice complaint against the Regional Municipality of Haldimand-Norfolk ends abruptly after 44 days of hearings at the Ontario Labour Relations Board. ONA claimed that the region, its personnel department and home care management conspired to break the Local Union by interfering in its business and threatening union activities. Local president Erika Jambor, RN, was fired for alleged wrongdoing. The precedent-setting settlement reinstates Jambor with full compensation for the 18 months it took to resolve the matter. It also compensates home care union steward Carol Cairns, RN, for time lost for stress. Cairns had been called in for weekly meetings to dissuade her from participating in union activities.
At the annual meeting in November, voting delegates pass a Constitutional amendment that eliminates the President-elect position and replaces it with Vice-president. Also they approve an amendment that would allow the President, Vice-president and Secretary-treasurer to re-run for office, if they choose, for a maximum of two consecutive terms.
Long-time Education Director loma Robinson is made an honorary member of ONA for her 16 years of dedication and commitment to continuing education for ONA members. Robinson played a crucial role in the history and development of ONA since its early years.
ONA President Eileen Davidson, RN, says in a press release that proposed amendments to the Regulated Health Professions Act will jeopardize quality care and patient safety if they pass into law without important changes. ONA's chief concerns were that no amendments were tabled to ensure the accountability of nursing administrators for their practice and that nurses will be required to follow the direction of midwives and chiropodists, as well as doctors and dentists under the new legislation.
Nurses at the Toronto Hospital Corporation stage an information picket to protest the hospital's inefficient expenditures at the expense of staff. Nurses at Huronia District Hospital also stage an information picket to protest an announced closure of 14 beds and layoff of staff, including seven RNs.

1992

Mary Jane Christianson, RN, is president.

Nurses face major layoffs for the first time. as hospitals undergo restructuring in the wake of budget cuts. Also for the first time in its history, ONA reflects a decrease in membership and revenue as a direct result of the layoffs. Statistics show a 3.47 per cent decrease in the membership roster since 1990 and 1.79 per cent since 1991. The number of dues-paying members also declines by 2.99 per cent since 1991. To offset this bad news, ONA continues to organize new groups. With pay equity and layoffs providing the impetus, ONA fields many inquiries regarding organization.
Queen's Park announces it is setting up a special fund to help laid off or displaced hospital workers. The Labour Adjustment Program will be used to retrain workers for other tasks within the health care system and pay for early retirement options in hospitals facing layoffs. The plan is established to counter reports of widespread layoffs and bed closures as hospitals across the province strive to stay within their budgets following a 1 per cent funding increase. Later, the province unveils its Hospital Training and Adjustment Panel (HTAP), involving staffers Heather Dolan, RN, (Chief Operating Officer) and Liz Woods. RN, (Director, Continuing Education), which is designed to assist hospital workers affected by layoffs. The workers qualify for up to $5,000 from HTAP for counseling, job search assistance, retraining and relocation.
September - The Board decides to close the ONA Agency, which had been set up to compete with the employer-sponsored nursing agencies. The decision came as a result of an Ontario Labour Relations Board ruling.
February - ONA pioneers a new group policy for AIDS coverage for its 55,000 members. The policy, reportedly the only one of its kind in North America, becomes effective on Feb. 1. The plan draws tremendous media attention for its unique and progressive nature.
ONA reissues its blacklisting of Toronto General Hospital, which extends to its third year. The blacklisting, instigated by Local 97's 1,600 staff RNs, has been in effect since April, 1989 because of the hospital's failure to comply with sections of the collective agreement.
March - As reports of layoffs continue to flood in, ONA's Labour Relations Department is put on alert to see that hospitals follow correct layoff and bumping procedures as set out in the central collective agreement. Grievances are widespread as hospitals fail to comply with layoff language.
April 9 - ONA blacklists Kincardine General for a continued lack of demonstrated effort to maintain effective and harmonious working relationships with its RNs. Local 99's complement of nurses includes 36 full-time members and 12 part timers.
The Ontario Women's Directorate releases a survey that says 59 per cent of nurses report having been assaulted during their careers and 35 per cent in the last 12 months. The alarming survey prompts nurses to take a good look at their workplace relationships and demand a harassment-free workplace. "Nurses must become assertive in demanding our right to a safe work environment," says ONA President Mary Jane Christianson, RN, following the report's release. Meanwhile Health Minister Frances Lankin says she is considering setting up a task force to find out why so many nurses are being assaulted on the job.
June - ONA Local 209 (203 full-time, 211 part-time) blacklists York County Hospital in Newmarket for failing to adhere to bumping and seniority rights as outlined in the collective agreement, for failing to provide modified work programs for sick and injured nurses and for discriminating against union members. The hospital has 24 outstanding grievances and two cases before the Human Rights Commission at the time ONA issues the blacklisting.
June 9-10 - Some critical issues highlight discussions at the Joint Bargaining Objective Setting Meeting at Toronto's Regal Constellation Hotel for representatives from hospital. community health and homes sectors. Among the topics: key issues for the upcoming round of bargaining talks; allied health personnel and the future of organizing for nurses; and the course of action for layoff and recall. Participants also meet within their own sectors to identify issues pertaining to their specific work environments.
An Ontario Pension Commission ruling confirms ONA's view that the Hospitals of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP) is a multi-employer pension plan and must be jointly administered by a Board of Trustees, comprised equally of employer/employee representatives. In June, the province's Superintendent of Pensions orders the OHA to implement the joint-governance directive. The OHA Pension Committee subsequently establishes a sub-committee to investigate joint-governance models.
The Board of Directors approves the release of $1 million from the Security Fund to continue ONA's ongoing battle for pay equity.
Nurses in Sarnia launch a spirited campaign to block the reinstatement of hospital privileges for Dr. Kunwar Singh, a pediatrician who has been convicted of sexual assaults on staff and patients' mothers at two Sarnia hospitals over the previous 16 years. Nurses at Local 234, St. Joseph's, and Local 234. Sarnia General, set up ongoing information pickets, wear pink ribbons, issue statements to local media and amass a petition of 2,600 signatures during their campaign.
July 6 - ONA reissues the blacklisting of the Regional Municipality of Haldimand-Norfolk, Local 78, for the "irresponsible actions of the employer". The blacklisting first went into effect in June 1990. This brings to six the number of agencies currently blacklisted by ONA.
July 27 - Glenna Cole Slattery, RN, ONA's Chief Executive Officer since February, 1986, announces her resignation. In her six years at ONA's helm, Slattery pilots the Union through two consecutive negotiated hospital collective agreements and establishes ONA as a strong political voice and lobbyist. A special committee is struck to find a new CEO for the Union.
Aug. 4 - Another precedent-setting victory for ONA in its pay equity efforts! A Pay Equity Hearings Tribunal finds that Women's College Hospital, Sunnybrook Health Centre and North York General Hospital plan to use a job comparison system (SKEW) that fails to meet the standards of gender neutrality as required by the Pay Equity Act.
Aug. 10 - Arbitrator Paula Knopf maintains the status quo on language concerning the layoff issue in ONA's central hospital collective agreement. In her arbitration decision, Knopf says she is convinced there is a need to amend the language, however she advises the parties to design "mutually acceptable" language in the collective agreement. ONA stands by its interpretation "until such time as amended".
Sept. 8 - St. Joseph's in Sarnia turns down Dr. Kunwar Singh's application for reinstatement of his hospital privileges. Sarnia General follows on Sept. 16. Although Dr. Singh appeals the decision, staff nurses at both agencies are elated that their campaign for a workplace free of harassment is a success. Says ONA President Mary Jane Christianson, RN, "We respect and admire our nurses for taking a stand on something they strongly believe in and for fighting for a positive and harassment-free working environment."
Nov. 18 - Voting delegates at the 19th ONA annual meeting in Toronto amend the Constitution with the required 2/3 majority vote to allow, when necessary, allied health personnel to be organized and included in its bargaining units. This landmark decision means that health-care workers other than nurses could be included in ONA. Says President Mary Jane Christianson, RN, "This amendment allows the union to be in a very advantageous position to proactively respond to the inevitable shift in the health care delivery system from hospital-based to community-based care.
At the same annual meeting, Health Minister Frances Lankin tells membership that the input of nurses is necessary for the government to make the right decisions about health care. She says that more work needs to be done to bring nurses' voices and input to bear on the organization of the workplace and delivery of health care. She also tells the assembly the government will be investigating how to implement the concept of the nurse practitioner, saying "there has to be room for growth in the role and scope of nursing."
Delegates at the annual meeting also give direction to the Board to investigate the feasibility of joining the National Federation of Nurses' Unions.
Members vote in a $2 per month dues increase, raising the monthly dues total to $43.50 per member for 1993. A total of $7 per month is returned to the local, an increase from $6.50. Delegates also pass a motion to permanently realign into the operating fund $1 from LEAP and $1 from the security fund. They also agree to automatically refund dual dues paid in excess of the amount equivalent to a full year's dues, provincial portion, commencing with 1992 dues.
The College of Nurses' latest draft regulations on controlled acts and delegation under the Regulated Health Professions Act are regressive and ignore the concerns of registrants, says ONA President Mary Jane Christianson, RN, commenting on amendments to the CNO's initial consultation document. The CNO's latest draft maintains the status quo of Model 1 (current practice), while ONA lobbies for the Model 4 (combination) modification.
The bipartite Board of Directors at the Workplace Health and Safety Agency approves the hours of training for the core certification program for occupational health and safety representatives. ONA members are asked to take advantage of the training and to ensure that a labour-based approach is maintained.
Ontario Treasurer Floyd Laughren delivers the bad news on transfer payments in November: hospitals will get a one-time 2 per cent funding increase of $149 million in 1993-94, but because of an anticipated shortfall of $4.2 billion in revenues, base operating budgets will be capped at 1992-93 levels in the subsequent two years.
Members of ONA Local 22 at the Peterborough County-City Health Unit say the partnership between public health nurses and the Peterborough community to foster health promotion and disease prevention is in jeopardy. In a presentation to Ministry of Health officials, the nurses said a reduction in the number of PHN positions at the health unit was restricting delivery of programs, and in some cases eliminating them. The nurses made a number of recommendations, including: secure the PHN role in health promotion through public policy, protect PHN jobs and enable PHNs to participate on fiscal decision-making committees in public-health units.
Dec. 11 - The Board of Directors issues a blacklisting of St. Mary's Hospital in Timmins, ONA Local 206, because of the employer's continued harassment and discrimination of registered nurses. Meanwhile, a blacklisting of the Sudbury and District Public Health Unit is lifted at the request of Local 187 members. That agency had been blacklisted since Feb. 15, 1988 because of a poor working relationship with the nurses, who went on strike that year.
A flyer decrying service and job cuts, distributed by members of Local 22 at the Peterborough County-City Health Unit, draws the ire of the employer and prompts an angry exchange of letters. The Board of Health reprimands ONA for releasing the document, which it claims is "contradictory to maintaining a harmonious and satisfying relationship" between the Board and ONA, and demands a public apology from ONA Central and the local. In reply, President Mary Jane Christianson, RN, denies there is anything misleading in the flyer and refuses to apologize.
Region 3 Representative Barb Wahl, RN, spearheads a campaign in the Kitchener-Waterloo area to draw attention to the public-health crisis there as regional councilors prepare to chop 14 per cent from the community-health budget. The regional health unit already stands 39th out of 42 health units in per-capita funding for cost-shared programs. Wahl has a lengthy article published in the Kitchener-Waterloo Record highlighting the devastating impact that budget cuts will have on community-health services. She indicates that maintaining public-health programs would save money in the long run. In a letter to the Health Minister, ONA President Mary Jane Christianson, RN, points out that the region is proposing to eliminate 33.5 staff jobs and that the budget is being balanced on the backs of nurses, who already work for poor wages. She calls on the Ministry to ensure that nurses are included in all decisions that affect the level of care and provision of services within the community.

1993

Ina Caissey, RN, is president.

New terminology becomes part of daily conversation across the province as discussions related to "Social Contract" come to the forefront for those affiliated with the public and broader public sectors. As the province's NDP government struggles with a looming fiscal crisis, public sector and broader public sector unions become immersed in the process that is ultimately geared to shaving $2 billion from the provincial payroll. Speculation about wage freezes, rollbacks in wages and benefits and job losses dominate the headlines in the spring as social contract negotiations begin.
April 4-5 - ONA meets with other public sector and broader public sector unions to discuss strategy as social contract negotiations swing into high gear. The unions agree that if they enter into negotiations, a number of broad principles would have to be included, such as: preserve free collective bargaining in Ontario; maintain quality public services and unionized public-service jobs; protect pension-plan rights and negotiation processes; no unilateral cuts to jobs. services or programs; no reduction of any pay equity obligations; and no rollbacks of public sector wages and benefits. The government sets up negotiations at six sectoral tables, including health (hospitals, nursing homes, homes for the aged) and municipal (health units, VON).
April 19 - With ONA President Ina Caissey, RN, and Labour Relations Director Dan Anderson attending, representatives from the broader public sector union coalition meet with the provincial government's negotiating team to discuss the proposed social contract. The meeting produces a commitment from the government that there will be no layoffs in the broader public sector while social contract talks are on-going. Also, no negotiations are to take place prior to the government tabling, on April 23, its social contract draft proposals and an expenditure control plan, which provide for a $4-billion deficit reduction. The plan includes such steps as: 12 unpaid leave days per year in each of the three years of the social contract; voluntary early retirement and other voluntary workforce adjustment measures; a wage freeze and deferral of all previously-negotiated and scheduled wage increases until 1996; deferral until 1996 of all merit increments, movements in salary steps, cost-of-living increases or ranges. The social contract proposals are intended to generate an additional $2 billion in savings through payroll reductions.
April 27 - The Board of Directors mandates ONA's participation in social contract negotiations, slated to commence on April 29, following the attendance of ONA President Ina Caissey, RN, Labour Relations Director Dan Anderson, ONA's Associate Director of Government Relations Lesley Bell. RN, and Director of Government Relations Noelle Andrews, RN, at a meeting of the broader public sector union coalition. ONA joins the coalition as a full participating partner.
Ontario's new Advocacy Act protects patient advocates and others from legal proceedings for damages but does not protect registered nurses. ONA tells the provincial government.
A package of bills pertaining to advocacy, including Bill 74 (the Advocacy Act) Bill 108 (Substitute Decisions Act). Bill 109 (Consent to Treatment Act) and Bill 110 (Consent and Capacity Statute Law Amendment Act), protects vulnerable patients' guardians, health practitioners, advocates and others from liability. However, ONA says, it does not protect nurses from liability and is thus not in the best interest of vulnerable patients. "Nurses have historically been the primary support for the security and well-being of vulnerable citizens… We are far better able to help our clients when we are functioning in a secure and positive environment as it relates to our professional autonomy," ONA tells the government.
ONA's Professional Committee releases a document highlighting concerns about the establishment of midwifery as a separate discipline under the new Regulated Health Professions Act, which is to be proclaimed in the fall. ONA says changes in agency policies are required to accommodate expanding labour and delivery care options for women resulting from self-regulation for midwives under RHPA. Foremost among ONA's concerns is that registered nurses will be required to carry out some orders written or directed by midwives.
ONA's Legislative Committee directs a strong lobbying effort at the CNO to ensure the future of graduate nurses under the Regulated Health Professions Act, arguing that controlled acts should be delegated to these nurses through regulation. ONA says the CNO's position that graduate nurses must undertake the CNATs for registration could spell the elimination of this nurse category under RHPA, affecting about 200 ONA members.
Elgin County council passes a resolution expressing displeasure at an arbitration decision awarding retroactive pay to nurses in Local 76. The six full-time and 17 part-time registered nurses, who work at two area nursing homes, were awarded a total of $75,000 in retro pay under terms of an agreement signed the previous year. The agreement gives the nurses parity with area hospital RNs.
A survey of 1,800 female workers at the Toronto Hospital finds that many have experienced sexual harassment on the job. Two per cent of respondents report having been sexually assaulted and 1 per cent say they have been blackmailed for sex. About 70 per cent say they have experienced some form of sexual harassment on the job and about 20 per cent say women's abilities have been questioned or insulted. More than half say they have felt unsafe at times in some parts of the hospital.
The media reports that hundreds of Metro Toronto women with breast cancer are being sent to Sudbury and Thunder Bay for radiation treatment because of a 14-week wait at the two major Toronto cancer hospitals. Many choose to wait for treatment in Metro Toronto rather than travel.
The CNO's third draft on regulations covering controlled acts and delegation shows substantial improvement, although ONA still has concerns. While the format which separates the registered nurse from the registered practical nurse (formerly registered nursing assistant) is clearer and easier to read, ONA has concerns that the RPN's base of knowledge is not adequate to perform some procedures that may be allowed under the Regulated Health Professions Act. ONA finds that the current draft gives RNs and RPNs greater opportunity to refuse to delegate to individuals over whom they have no authority or control.
May 3-6 - The Joint Nursing Articulation Group discusses models for articulation in Ontario with ONA members at a number of regional town meetings. Recommendations are made for improving transferability of academic credits, while ensuring the appropriate attainment of college diplomas and university degrees. ONA members respond overwhelmingly to a survey that is circulated, indicating there is a need for improved access to educational programs and for an articulated process that recognizes previous educational achievements.
Following membership direction at the 1991 annual meeting, ONA kicks off its marketing campaign with the introduction of an "RN-Regjstered Nurse" lapel pin for clear visual identity in the workplace. A monthly newspaper column featuring ONA-sponsored health tips and carrying the ONA logo is picked up by weekly community newspapers across the country. ONA's goal in the campaign is to maximize the visibility of nurses in the workplace, to change the public's perception of the role of the RN and to stake out a clear position in the process of restructuring health care in Ontario. Nurses' Week 1993 sees the launch of a media relations program focused at the community level. Over 130 radio stations in Ontario receive a series of six public service announcements for airing throughout Nurses' Week, featuring nurses in different work settings. The radio spots provide thousands of dollars of free radio broadcast time throughout the year. ONA's marketing/communications campaign over the next three to five years is to be reviewed at each Board meeting.
May 17 - ONA attends the health sectoral table as a full participant at social contract negotiations. ONA also places observers at other sectoral tables, such as municipalities and social services, to ensure that no decisions are made that could impact on members without ONA's input.
May 29 - ONA President Ina Caissey, RN, and Vice-president Jane Cornelius, RN, attend a rally at Queen's Park to deliver the message that the important services delivered by public sector workers could be jeopardized by the social contract. The rally is well attended, with media coverage. In two newspaper and two television interviews, Caissey expresses ONA's outrage at the social contract proposals that have been tabled and talks about the level of care ONA members want to continue to provide.
June 2 - The unions receive the government's final non-negotiable Social Contract Framework Agreement. While it contains language for job security and re-deployment, it does not provide any job guarantees for ONA members. It also contains a completely unacceptable clause that mandates employers to unilaterally impose contract-stripping measures to meet their savings targets. It also removes any incentive for employers to work with labour to find non-compensation cost savings.
June 3 - Based on what they see in the final framework agreement and disturbed by the government's "intimidation tactics" of setting a tight deadline for signing, the public service union coalition withdraws from social contract negotiations. It is a course of action advocated by ONA. The Coalition is also angry that it still has not received the basic data it has requested over a month earlier to answer concerns about the social contract process, including methods for ratification and implementation.
Proposed legislative pay equity amendments will erode any possibility of ever achieving pay equity for registered nurses, ONA tells a standing government committee concerning the Pay Equity Amendment Act, Bill 102. ONA tells the committee the government is using the excuse of hard economic times to justify removing established rights to retroactive pay equity adjustments and obligations to maintain pay equity. ONA insists the government is breaking its pledge to the province's working women by proposing to move the deadline for achieving full pay equity from 1995 to 1998 for economic reasons.
June - ONA launches its first-ever proactive organizing drive, acting on direction from membership at the 1992 annual meeting. Targeted are the remaining registered nurses in Ontario who are eligible for ONA membership but who work at non-unionized agencies. ONA's brand-new organizing team, comprised of Education Officers Donna Hicks, RN. And Jim Fraser, RN, make their first foray at a major suburban hospital in the Greater Toronto area.
July - ONA members overwhelmingly ratify a negotiated pay equity agreement (97.4 per cent) reached on June 4 with the Ontario Hospital Association, capping six years of intense negotiations. The settlement affects 198 ONA bargaining units representing 45,370 registered nurses. The deal brings RNs a lump-sum retroactive payment of $4,100 based on 1,950 hours per year from Jan. 1, 1990 to March 31, 1993. Also, they receive a phased-in adjustment that brings the maximum yearly salary from $52,000 to $54,210 by Jan. 1, 1996. The pay equity adjustments are to be exempt from any wage-freeze legislation or social contract cutbacks. The agreement is subsequently ratified by the OHA, and implementation gets underway for 171 participating hospitals. Further discussions ensue for those institutions not covered in the agreement.
July 15 - ONA signs a tentative health sector framework agreement with the provincial government in concert with the coalition of five other unions representing health-care workers in the broader public sector, including SEIU, OPSEU, AAHP:0 (allied health), ICTU (transit workers) and PAIRO (interns and residents). The framework agreement shaves 20 per cent or $94 million off the province's $470 million health-care savings target through payroll and compensation savings. The agreement also: finds cost savings through reductions in waste and inefficiencies; protects the integrity of existing collective agreements and ensures maximum job protection for current employees while protecting health services and programs; mandates the establishment of a task force to look at nurse practitioners and other expanded roles for registered nurses; protects existing pension rights and pay equity obligations; sets a requirement for full employee participation in budgetary, strategic and human resources planning at individual agencies; and provides for a $50-million "structural equalization fund" for employers who sign, topping up the institution's basic transfer payment from the province. The three-year agreement, which runs from June 14, 1993 to March 31. 1996, covers about 100,000 health-care workers in all publicly-funded health services, including community-based services, institutional care, in-home services, home care and clinical education. All coalition partners take the agreement back to their members for a ratification vote. ONA members ratify the agreement by a resounding 96.2 per cent.
Aug. 10 - Efforts to reach a settlement on a social contract local agreement for all hospitals come to an abrupt end as the OHA walks away from the health-sector table, allowing the government's Aug. 10 signing deadline to elapse. Still, many other local agreements are signed by the deadline, including nursing homes, homes for the aged and community health. Agencies that fail to reach local agreements are now in failsafe under the Social Contract Act, which means higher savings targets and harsher cost-cutting measures for the workers involved.
Local 118 at Toronto's Doctor's Hospital breaks through the barriers to achieve an equal voice in the redevelopment and future vision of their agency. The hospital, which almost closed during the mid-'70s provincial cash crunch, is slated to get a $40-million cash boost from the province to build a new facility and has raised $20 million of its own towards the project. The Health Minister asks for union representation on a steering committee for the project. However, discussions begin without RN representation, after the hospital's administration decides staff involvement constitutes a "conflict of interest". Local 118 swings into action. They get set to mail almost 60 letters to the Ministry of Health expressing their anger at being left out of discussions. President Linda Ratushniak, RN, contacts the Metro Toronto District Health Council to say they are ready to mail out the letters unless the committee brings nurses into the process. Within six hours, Ratushniak gets a phone call inviting her to sit on the committee as her local's representative, along with two other union people. Later, every staff member is asked for their opinion on how health services should be provided to the community and what their vision was for the hospital.
ONA calls for tougher health and safety legislation to end violence in the workplace. In a submission to the Ministry of Health on verbal and physical abuse of nurses and other health-care workers, ONA demands regulations to ensure that workers can refuse unsafe work and are protected from violent patients. ONA also calls for stronger criteria for granting authority for work stoppages under Section 46 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act. Meanwhile, certification training in occupational health and safety training gets underway after two years of preparation. Designed and developed jointly by management and labour representatives, it is intended to train an estimated 100,000 Ontario workers and managers in occupational health and safety.
ONA's search for a new Chief Executive Officer is over! Hired for the position is Lesley Bell, RN, BScN, a former provincial president, regional representative, local president and associate director of government relations. Those are just some of the many hats she has worn over 16 years as an active member and employee with ONA. As CEO, Bell intends to continue to encourage the strong political lobbying stance that ONA has taken in recent years, and to urge members to get involved in health planning on a regional level at DHCs, health boards, committees, etc. She says she will encourage frank and open communication and discussion among other unions and hopes this will help pilot ONA through some "rough waters".
ONA applauds the CNO's final draft of regulations for the self-initiation and delegation of controlled acts. ONA says the regulations offer excellent protection for the public and recognizes the need to move towards more autonomy for the nursing profession. ONA is strongly supportive of many of the items contained in the document, the CNO's fourth and final version of draft regulations required under the Regulated Health Professions Act.
ONA announces a new cooperative partnership with Group Mortgage Specialists to manage a new Group Mortgage Benefit Plan for members. The plan helps ONA members arrange the mortgage financing at the lowest possible rates. This new benefit runs in tandem with the ONA-FINSCO Retirement and Savings Plan, now in its second year. Finsco advises ONA members on investing as managers of the Group RSP.
Sept. 15 - ONA unveils its new Training and Conference Centre on the second floor at head office with an official ribbon-cutting ceremony featuring President Ina Caissey, RN, and new CEO Lesley Bell, RN. Labour schools and workshops for members will be held throughout the year at this new centralized locale.
Sept. 20 - A national lobbying effort among several unions is launched to make health care a priority issue for the Oct. 25, 1993 federal election. ONA is front and centre among the union coalition that develops an action plan to get the message out that the federal government has got to stop slashing health-care funding to the provinces. The theme for the lobbying drive is "Stop all Cuts to Medicare" and a common symbol is developed consisting of two band-aids crossed in the shape of a voter's X. Targeted as the chief lobbying day is National Medicare Day, Oct. 14, when members from all participating unions are asked to wear the crossed-band-aid symbols and engage in lobbying activities. ONA kicks off the campaign with a press conference at head office, featuring a panel of representatives from the six unions involved (ONA, SEIU, OPSEU, AAHP:0, CUPE and ICTU).
A CNO survey that reports a high incidence of patient abuse by nurses should be interpreted cautiously, ONA President Ina Caissey, RN, tells the media. The well-publicized survey, which stirs up a lot of controversy, reports that nearly half of the 1,600 Ontario nurses interviewed say they have witnessed some form of physical or verbal abuse of patients by other nurses. Caissey cautions that the survey does not define "abuse" or discuss time frames. ONA says the incidence of abuse is not nearly as prevalent as the survey indicates.
Oct. 13 - Happy Birthday ONA! ONA celebrates the 20th anniversary of its founding with a birthday cake at head office. More celebrations follow at the 20th annual ONA annual meeting, held in November in Toronto.
Great strides for ONA members as a staff registered nurse at Port Hope Hospital wins a seat with full voting privileges on the agency's Board of Trustees. Jeannette Douglas, RN, founding president and current member of ONA Local 105, is chosen for the position for a one-year trial period. Local 105 President Brenda Eakins, RN, is surprised and elated after the hospital's administration approaches her with the idea. Douglas's election means there is a staff representative on all decision-making committees at the hospital except for one.
Information pickets by ONA members abound across the province, as registered members go public with their concerns about hospital rationalization and layoffs. Much public support is gained through sympathetic media coverage. And in one case, it even sparks the reversal of an unpopular administrative decision - to close the surgical ward at Timmins District Hospital, Local 206, and lay off all RNs and RNAs on that unit.
More trail-blazing by ONA membership: Elizabeth Clinton, RN, a staff registered nurse at the York County Hospital, Local 209, in Newmarket, wins a human rights bid to allow same-sex spouses to receive benefits. Clinton and partner Laurie-Anne Mercer take their case to the Human Rights Commission board of inquiry after Clinton's employer and Ontario Blue Cross reject their application for spousal benefits. The Board finds that Clinton has been discriminated against on the basis of sexual orientation.
Nov. 5 - Citing inconsistencies, a lack of planning and priorities and an "over-reliance on and under-use of high-tech devices", ONA kicks off its province-wide media campaign by calling for an overhaul of Ontario's health-care system. The campaign gets underway at a media conference at ONA head office. President Ina Caissey, RN, tells the media that people have assumed for too long that more money means better health care. Caissey tells reporters, "We want Ontario residents to recognize they are not getting the care they deserve and to make them aware that the health-care system is deteriorating." Central to the media campaign is a 12-page full-colour publication that is inserted into the Nov. 6 Toronto Star for broad provincial distribution. The insert, entitled "Rethinking Health Care - the Ontario Nurses' Association Report on the State of Health Care in Ontario", expresses ONA's concerns about the deterioriating state of health services in Ontario and contains 10 recommendations for improving the system. The document is distributed to about 800,000 households across Ontario.
Nov. 16 - Nurses must take ownership of their discipline and present a unified front to the rest of the world. Ontario's new Nursing Coordinator, Dr. Dorothy Hall, RN, tells members as ONA opens its 20th anniversary annual meeting at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto. In an impassioned and morale-boosting keynote address. Dr. Hall tells the more than 1,000 participants that nurses must remove the term "expanded role" from their speech and demand the passage of legislation, regulations and provisions so that they can practise nursing "as they know it should be done." President Ina Caissey, RN, opens the Board of Directors' Report by commenting that 1993 has been the most trying year in ONA's 20-year history as the Union tries to counteract the effect of declining membership and provincial health rationalization and reorganization. Caissey tells the assembly that the rationalization process has led Ontario nurses to the situation they now face in terms of layoffs and workload problems "unlike anything we've seen in the last 20 years." She urges members to continue to work for a common purpose and adds that continuity and stability are essential in these difficult times. She says ONA will continue to balance fiscal responsibility with the service needs of members.
For the first time since the two-year term of founding president Jean Lowery. RN, an ONA President has been returned for a second year of office with the acclamation of Ina Caissey, RN. This follows the Constitutional amendment from the 1991 annual meeting allowing the President, Vice-president and Secretary-treasurer to re-run for office, if they choose, for a maximum of two consecutive terms. Also acclaimed at the '93 annual meeting are Vice-president Jane Cornelius, RN, and Secretary-treasurer Connie Phelan. RN. All Regional Representative positions this year are acclaimed, as well as three of four positions on the Nominations Committee.
Also at the 1993 annual meeting, membership accepts the Board of Director's recommendation that a nurse with accumulated bargaining unit seniority, who transfers to a permanent position outside the bargaining unit, should retain her bargaining unit seniority for a period of six months. Also, members pass a motion with respect to rationalization that, for rationalization purposes, seniority will be defined as "current seniority in your current place of employment." Inherent in the motion is that if a member works at both agencies, she will choose one seniority from one agency. The Board is directed to continue to discuss the rationalization process with membership on a regular basis.
Membership passes a motion raising 1994 dues by $2.25 to $45.75 per member per month. Of that amount, $2 is allocated to the Operating Fund, increasing this to $36.50. An additional 25 cents is allocated to the AIDS/LTD fund, increasing this to $1.25. The Security Fund portion remains at $1 and the $7 as the portion of dues returned to the Local also stays the same. Members are told that the Board has cut $1.5 million in spending from ONA's projected 1993 budget, through a variety of cost-containment programs. That includes increased use of conference calls, streamlining of services, the combining of departments and some layoffs.
A constitutional amendment carries establishing a retired membership classification for a yearly fee. It entitles retired ONA members access to all benefit programs offered by ONA. As well, they could attend meetings but would not have voting privileges.
A resolution is carried directing ONA to formulate a clear anti-racist, anti-discriminatory policy for the guidance of ONA members and officers. Chief Executive Officer Lesley Bell, RN, tells the assembly that ONA has been working very hard to deal with racism and discrimination issues and has taken steps to educate members, including hiring a Research Officer dedicated to employment equity and human rights matters.
Nov. 18 - ONA members take a break from the annual meeting to stage a huge march and rally on Queen's Park to protest cutbacks in provincial health spending and to draw attention to the decreasing quality of health services. About 1,000 annual meeting attendees take part in the rally, led by the ONA Board of Directors and union counterparts' presidents. The event is thoroughly covered by all major media in Metro Toronto and area, including live reports from the steps of the Legislature on three major networks. Health Minister Ruth Grier addresses the crowd, holding up ONA's media insert "Rethinking Health Care" for television cameras. President Ina Caissey, RN, demands government action on Ontario's failing health-care system, reiterating what was said in the media insert - health care in Ontario is suffering and the time for talk is past. She draws enormous cheers from the crowd.
Reconvening at the annual meeting, Caissey warns the assembly during her Presidential address of the rocky road ahead as the province continues to downsize jobs and rationalize services. She tells members that ONA's mandate in the coming year will be to see that rationalization and restructuring are carried out as fairly as possible and that ONA will continue to fight for the rights of nurses and to ensure that quality care is delivered to the residents of Ontario.
On Dec. 9, Ontario becomes the first province to enact employment-equity legislation. The bill requires employers to hire and promote women, visible minorities, aboriginals and people with disabilities. Draft regulations and guidelines are developed to help employers comply with the legislation. More than 17,000 companies and 75 per cent of all Ontario workplaces are covered by the Act. In the coming year, ONA's Board of Directors will develop initiatives to ensure that the needs and concerns of members who are from the designated groups are being addressed, and to encourage their wider involvement in ONA activities.

1994

Ina Caissey, RN, serves her second consecutive term as president.

As 1994 opens, it soon becomes obvious that Ontario residents and RNs in particular will continue to experience the frustration and turbulence that characterized 1993 - one of the most trying years in ONA's 20-year history. In signing off for 1993 in her Dec.-Jan. ONA News column. Chief Executive Officer Lesley Bell, RN, lists the ups and downs of '93. On the downside: the Social Contract; rationalization and restructuring of Ontario's health services; the loss of nursing jobs; and concerns about autonomy and accountability for the nursing profession under the Regulated Health Professions Act. On the upside: ONA forges an alliance with other health-care unions to battle the social contract and other labour issues; ONA receives overwhelming public support for its publication "Rethinking Health Care", which addresses health-care reform in Ontario and the pivotal role nursing has to play in the delivery of health care; and ONA's benchmark pay equity agreement for nurses in the hospital sector.
Jan. 1 - Effective the first of the year, the Hospitals of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP) becomes a jointly-trusteed plan, administered equally by five union and five employer representatives. ONA representatives on the HOOPP Board include Chief Operating Officer Heather Dolan, RN, and Labour Relations Director Dan Anderson. The Board is co-chaired by a union representative. Not so great is the news that employer and employee contributions to HOOPP rise as of Jan. 1. It is the first increase in 20 years for plan members, but the second in less than a year for employers. The new rates reflect the higher cost of providing pension benefits to members, with improvements like inflation protection introduced in the 1980s.
Jan. 6-7 - ONA joins forces with its nursing union counterparts across the country to fight the ongoing threat to Canada's health programs and to develop a common nursing vision of health-care reform. In an unprecedented show of unity, presidents and senior staff from every nursing union in the country meet at ONA's Toronto head office to discuss mutual issues and concerns regarding Canada's health care. They represent the collective voice of over 225,000 Canadian nurses working in hospitals, long-term care facilities and the community. Representing Ontario's organized nurses, ONA President Ina Caissey, RN, tells the media, "Nursing union leaders are calling on the government of Canada to recommit to the principles of medicare. Quality health care is a right to which all Canadian citizens are entitled."
Jan. 31 - The Hospital Training and Adjustment Panel is reborn as the Health Sector Training and Adjustment Program (HSTAP), as per the Social Contract. Two ONA staff members are named as union representatives on HSTAP's inaugural Board, Chief Operating Officer
Heather Dolan, RN, and Labour Relations Director Dan Anderson. HSTAP's mandate includes: develop and implement a distinct job retention strategy; provide funding for appropriate training, adjustment and redeployment services to employees and laid-off employees; implement forms of income support; provide ongoing evaluation of the current labour adjustment model and delivery system; advocate for effective government health human-resource planning and funding, and improved access to other labour adjustment assistance.
Feb. 11 - Health Minister Ruth Grier unveils a plan to reinstitute the province's nurse practitioner program. The initiative will allow registered nurses with advanced preparation to work independently or as part of the health-care team, usually as the first point of contact for patients. This will mean utilizing and educating more RNs as nurse practitioners. ONA applauds the initiative, having long advocated the nurse practitioner as an effective, lower-cost method of delivering a wide range of health services. Making plans to launch Ontario's first batch of newly-certified nurse practitioners within the year, Grier commits to working with nursing organizations, colleges and universities to develop appropriate programs for their preparation.
Feb. 11 - The Council of the College of Nurses of Ontario votes 22-10 to preserve the status quo and maintain one regulatory college for both registered nurses and registered practical nurses. The issue is debated over two days during the Council meeting. ONA strongly favored preserving the one-college system for both disciplines, arguing that a separate college and self-regulation for RPNs could possibly have a disastrous effect on the nursing profession and would not be in the public's interest. In a Jan. 12 letter to Council, ONA. President Ina Caissey, RN, writes, "In the interest of efficiency, economy and enhanced protection for the public, the current system of regulating nursing in one college must be maintained in Ontario."
ONA's Ad Hoc Organizational Structure Review Committee meets for the first time in February to begin discussions on ONA's organizational structure. The committee is to review ONA's current local structure as outlined in the Constitution and policy manual and make recommendations relating to: membership, certifications, mergers, amalgamations, regions, locals, voting and financial implications. The ongoing implications of health-care reform in Ontario, leading to further rationalization of services and layoffs, results in a number of increased costs to ONA, which are identified by the Board and Finance Committee. Among them: ONA's decreasing membership base; costs related to increased layoffs; more funding to locals for an increase in ghost membership and financial assistance.
ONA's senior management and staff union, Local 2 of the Brewery. General and Professional Workers' Union, commission a work of art to commemorate ONA's 20th anniversary. Proposals are solicited for a work of art from ONA members, their families or friends.
March 5 - Employment equity issues are the focus of this year's International Women's Day march and rally in downtown Toronto. Calling attention to discrimination and racism issues in the workplace, the ralliers march in support of such causes as the human rights complaint by eight registered nurses of colour against Toronto's Northwestern General Hospital for discriminatory workplace practices. Their human rights battle has been ongoing since 1991.
March 23 - Strong lobbying pays off as Ontario Treasurer Floyd Laughren announces the province will hold the line on transfer payments to hospitals, schools and municipalities, ending weeks of speculation that transfer payments would be reduced. "It's heartening to see that we are being heard and that our lobbying efforts are not in vain," said ONA President Ina Caissey, RN. The news is not all rosy, however. Laughren announces that welfare rates are to be frozen, while tuition fees at colleges and universities will rise by 10 per cent in each of the next two years.
ONA criticizes the Ministry of Health's Joint Policy and Planning Committee (JPPC) for failing to solicit labour input before releasing its discussion document on the restructuring of Ontario's hospital system, and for lacking labour representation. Only one labour representative has a seat within the JPPC structure, serving on the Restructuring Sub-committee, which is one of 10 sub-committees of the Hospital Management Committee a sub-committee of the JPPC. Says ONA President Ina Caissey, RN, "It is distressing to see that a committee of this stature has carried through with the development and presentation of an important document like this without any input from labour. It is certain the JPPC would function much more effectively if front-line workers such as staff nurses were represented on the Committee. We will continue to pursue this goal."
The American Nurses Association reveals a study that provides some comprehensive statistics proving nurses perform as well or better than physicians in delivering primary health care.
The 100 or so Workers' Compensation Board claims filed by Ontario nurses for injuries related to violence on the job each year are likely only the tip of the iceberg, a new provincial Labour Ministry review claims. Between 1987 and 1989, there are a total of 348 loss-time WCB claims filed by non-supervisory nurses. They represent about one-tenth of all violence-related injury claims before the WCB. The WCB says the numbers may be much higher, given the lack of estimates for denied claims and claims with no lost time the uncertainty about the estimate for psychological illnesses and the likelihood that many assaults go unreported.
Quality of care is suffering as demands on a decreasing workforce escalate in the homes sector, says an ONA 1993 survey of members who work at provincial nursing homes and homes for the aged. The newly-released study finds that to nurses and other front-line workers, the quality of patient care largely depends on the number and calibre of staff available. In many cases, the pool of workers is shrinking or not expanding to meet increasing demands on services. ONA undertakes the study to examine the relationship between staffing levels and the quality of worklife for 2,667 nurses who work at ONA bargaining units in 171 nursing homes and homes for the aged across the province. Results of the study are presented in Hamilton at an international symposium on global transitions in nursing worklife, co-sponsored by the University of Toronto and McMaster University. A number of common issues emerge from the survey, including: participation in policy-making is not working; problems are most severe in large units where administrators seek to achieve economies of scale; nurses are afraid to express their real concerns for fear of losing their jobs; and quality of nursing worklife and patient care are inseparable.
April - At the April Board meeting, the ONA Board agrees to incorporate a group of social workers into a new bargaining unit at the Hamilton Program for Schizophrenia Inc following a Labour Board order, even though the percentage of registered nurses is borderline. Board policy requires at least 80 per cent of a new certification to be registered nurses. While the issue of allied health is still up for discussion by membership, the Board makes an interim policy change to require 75 per cent of the group being certified to be registered nurses.
The Board allocates up to $500,000 from the security fund to deal with the rationalization of health services in all regions across the province.
The Occupational Health and Safety Committee is directed by the Board to develop an information and teaching package to assist locals and educate members about modified work and duty to accommodate issues, and members' responsibilities in the process.
The Board rescinds its position that members not participate on their agencies' Employment Equity Committees now that the Employment Equity Act is inevitable, and encourages members to get involved.
About 20 ONA members have now received their certification training through the Workers Health and Safety Centre (WHSC) and 15 are qualified to teach certification training. Launched the previous spring to help workplaces comply with the Occupational Health and Safety Act, certification training is being provided to Joint Health and Safety Committee members. However, many employers are still resistant to providing training or are not providing training through the WHSC. ONA takes the position that JHSC labour representatives have the right to choose where their certified members will be trained, and recommends the training be done through the WHSC. The Labour Ministry issues new compliance dates.
ONA President Ina Caissey, RN, calls for regulated protection from workplace violence for nurses and other health-care providers, following a March incident in which a nurse is stabbed with a hypodermic by a violent HIV-positive patient. "It is of great concern to us that there is no regulated protection for nurses," she says. ONA takes possession of a $500,000 cheque from the Toronto Hospital in settling a 1985 grievance over extended tours. The grievance is filed on behalf of Local 97 nurses working extended tours, who were paid for 10.71 hours rather than 11.25. ONA loses the grievance but wins on appeal, which grants the nurses another arbitration hearing. Rather than going through another hearing, the parties come to an agreement for the above amount. The award applies only to full-time nurses on extended tours between the date the grievance is filed, Aug. 22, 1985, and July 19, 1986 - when the 10.71-hour extended tour is adjusted to 11.25 hours.
May 3 - The Divisional Court of Ontario overturns a decision of an Ontario Human Rights Commission Board of Inquiry, finding that same-sex spouses are not automatically entitled to coverage under their partner's medical plans. The Board had ruled the previous August that Blue Cross must extend medical benefits to Laurie Anne Mercer, RN, the partner of Elizabeth Clinton, RN, a staff nurse at York County Hospital in Newmarket. On appeal, the Divisional Court decides the Board erred in finding that Clinton had been denied benefits because of discrimination based on sexual orientation. The court's ruling does not override the 1992 precedent where another Board of Inquiry ordered the provincial government to pay family benefits to the spouses of its homosexual employees. In that case, it was argued that the denial of benefits violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Division Court in the Clinton case does not allow Charter arguments because lawyers for the Commission fail to provide adequate notice to the Attorney General's office as required.
May 9 - Health Minister Ruth Grier kicks off Nurses' Week by announcing the go-ahead for a permanent Ministry of Health (MOH) nursing unit and a Joint Provincial Nursing Committee (JPNC). The initiatives are among six recommendations to come out of the final report of the MOH's Nursing Roundtable, which has been meeting for the past year to discuss the impact of provincial health-care reform on nursing. The Roundtable is also mandated to develop strategies to ensure that all nurses are able to provide safe, effective care, using their full range of skills and education within a reorganized health system. The Roundtable is comprised of leaders from Ontario's major nursing associations (including ONA President Ina Caissey, RN, and Chief Executive Officer Lesley Bell, RN) and MOH officials. Says Caissey, "We are delighted that an opportunity has been created to give nurses a greater voice in the way health care will be structured."
May 11 - In a landmark human rights settlement, Toronto's Northwestern General Hospital agrees to pay seven black nurses a total of $320,000 and to take steps to ensure a racism-free workplace. The mediated agreement ends a bitter four-year battle for the nurses, who took their case to the Ontario Human Rights Commission after they were fired, forced to quit or continually subjected to racial discrimination at the 240-bed acute-care facility. The nurses, led by the original complainant, Sharon Luddington, RN, claim that access to professional development and training, shift assignments, disciplinary actions and promotions were based on racial factors, and that white nurses received preferential treatment. They also complain the hospital had refused to support them when they were racially abused and harassed by patients and their families. "This landmark settlement paves the way for removal of systemic discrimination from workplaces within the health-care system and ensures the rights of all workers who experience discrimination in their jobs," says ONA Vice-President Jane Cornelius, RN, during a May 12 press conference at Queen's Park to announce the settlement. Says Luddington, "We're not bad nurses. We had bad management." The announcement generates front-page coverage in all the major Toronto daily newspapers and also gets top-billing on network television news.
The Ministry of Health recommendation that nurses not be allowed to perform venipuncture on their own judgment further restricts nursing practice and violates a commitment to expand the scope of practice for health professionals, says ONA President Ina Caissey, RN, The government's proposal negates a recommendation by the Council of the College of Nurses of Ontario to include venipuncture as one of the few acts that nurses could perform independently. Caissey urges ONA members to lobby the government against this restrictive step.
The first comprehensive study of Ontario's $17.2-billion health-care system uncovers some surprising and unsettling results, including widely varying surgical rates at hospitals across the province. The $2.5-million, 325-page Practice Atlas, Patterns of Health Care in Ontario provides comprehensive information on Ontario health-care practices. Issued by the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences in Ontario (ICES) and sponsored by the Ontario Ministry of Health and the Ontario Medical Association, the study's authors hope its findings will prompt medical providers to examine their own practices to see how health-care dollars can be better spent.
In a historic first, the leaders of every nurses' union in Canada join together to deliver a united message to federal Health Minister Diane Marleau about the future of health care. Thirteen nursing leaders, including ONA President Ina Caissey, RN, meet with the Minister to say that the purpose of health reform should be to improve delivery of services at a reasonable cost. "Renewal must not be a euphemism for cutbacks that weaken the principles of Medicare and the actual delivery of services," Caissey says.
An important arbitration award means the reinstatement of 17 registered nurses to their former positions at Bonnechere Manor Home for the Aged, Local 174, in Renfrew, Ont. More than three-quarters of RN staff had been laid off and replaced by RNAs the previous year in a cost-cutting measure. Arbitrator Phillip Chodos finds that Bonnechere violated the RNs' collective agreement in "contracting out" their work to the less-qualified RNAs.
ONA President Ina Caissey, RN, urges members working in hospital emergency departments and satellites to participate in a Ministry of Health questionnaire on emergency services in Ontario. The questionnaire is to look at the role of nurses, nurse practitioners and physicians in providing care in hospital emergency departments and satellites.
ONA refuses to commit any further resources to the Joint Provincial Policy Committee's Restructuring Sub-Committee because labour representation in the province's restructuring process is only token. Many of the initiatives recommended by ONA and other unions throughout the health reform process are dismissed out of hand, while government representatives continue to support employers and medical communities. The Ministry of Health also is unwilling to adopt as policy the principles put forward by the joint ONA/Ontario Federation of Labour committee on the composition and selection process for District Health Councils. There are also no provisions for front-line providers on DHCs.
June - Recognizing that many ONA members face harassment, racism and discrimination in the workplace, the Board decides to: reaffirm its stance against discrimination on any basis; provide support for any lobbying efforts on behalf of members who are discriminated against due to sexual orientation; support the concept of an Equity Committee and request staff to develop the idea for further discussion at the September Board; and allocate up to $1 million from the Security Fund to further develop short and long-term strategies to deal with equity/human rights issues impacting on ONA.
The Board of Directors votes to maintain the closing balance in the Operating Fund at $1.5 million. Previously, the fund has always been maintained at $2.2 million.
Also at their June meeting, the Board blacklists three more agencies to bring to nine the total of agencies blacklisted by ONA. The latest are: Golden Manor Home for the Aged (Local 10), Timmins, for stonewalling negotiations for a collective agreement and pay equity; the Regional Municipality of York (Local 16), Newmarket, for thwarting nurses' efforts to attain pay-equity adjustments; and LaVerendrye Hospital (Local 195), Fort Frances, for its ineffectual handling of labour relations matters.
With the blacklisting now in effect, an interim pay-equity agreement is reached between 18 RNs and Golden Manor. The settlement brings the eight full-time and 10 part-time nurses a $1-an-hour pay-equity adjustment for hours worked. However, the payment only "scratches the surface", according to Local 10 President Sylvia Caron, RN, who says, "They owe us a substantial amount more." Negotiations for a collective agreement continue.
Canadian nurses who have worked in Saudi Arabia warn other nurses not to accept jobs in that country after running into problems with its "religious police" for violating Islamic laws. Punishments have included arrest, jail terms and lashings as well as being "roughed up." They also claim to have gone several months without pay.
The provincial government announces it will stop all work on proposed amendments to the regulation for health care and residential facilities and will look for alternatives. The announcement is made after yet another year of meetings and negotiations with health-care worker unions and after consensus is reached on language for three of the outstanding provisions. The first phase of the regulation, issued the previous year, includes provisions dealing with antineoplastics, anaesthetic gases and sharps. ONA is still looking for provisions covering violent patients and patient lifting.
ONA's Professional Committee issues midwifery guidelines to prepare RNs for the introduction of midwives into hospital practices. Members are urged to take a proactive role in developing agency-specific policies to ensure nursing's scope of practice is protected.
July - Ontario's air ambulance system gets a passing grade but has a number of serious organizational and staffing flaws that must be addressed. So says the provincial Air Ambulance Review Committee, chaired by University of Toronto nursing professor Gail Donner, RN. ONA members experience problems first-hand in either sending or receiving patients via air ambulance, including: timing in the transfer of patients; medical care during the transfer; quarrels between physicians over whose patient is transferred first; confusion over who will be staffing the air carrier; and questions about the skills and abilities of staff. Twenty-eight recommendations are presented by the committee to assist the Minister of Health in addressing problematic areas.
ONA member Lisa Lyttle, RN, launches a new support and information group for health-care workers who suffer latex allergies - a relatively new concern on the occupational health and safety front. In an article that appears in the ONA News in September 1994, Lyttle talks about her own latex sensitivity and warns that the majority of hospitals in Ontario are still not equipped to deal with the special needs of latex-allergy sufferers. They lack policies and protocols and some don't even have a single non-latex glove or catheter, she says. "A simple surgical procedure on a latex-allergic patient could abruptly end in anaphylaxis and death if no special precautions are taken," she warns. Lyttle urges nurses who have latex allergies to contact her new group, the Canadian Latex Allergy Association, to share their experiences, form a common voice and learn more about this dangerous occupational hazard.
September - To facilitate the compliance of Ontario's employment equity legislation, which goes into effect on Sept. 1, and to promote the policy of zero tolerance for harassment and discrimination in the workplace, ONA's Board of Directors announces a number of important equity initiatives. They include submitting a constitutional amendment for the 1994 annual meeting with respect to discrimination and racism, reflecting ONA's stance of zero tolerance for discrimination, racism or harassment of any sort. Also, a Human Rights Committee will be established in 1995 to develop plans and recommendations for the Board on issues relating to human rights and equity. The committee is to include ONA members from the four designated groups identified in the legislation (visible minorities, aboriginals, women and disabled, as well as francophones and gay/lesbian). Also, ONA will host five equity caucus sessions at the annual meeting for members of the designated groups to share ideas, information, support and strategy on the issues of human rights and discrimination in the workplace. ONA will provide subsidies for 100 selected members from the designated groups (not delegates or executives of locals) to attend the five caucus sessions and two days of the annual meeting as observers. They are to link up with the equity caucus groups outside of annual meeting business hours.
At the September meeting, the Board adopts a revised statement on entry to practice. While ONA's basic position does not change, the wording is amended to put it in a more positive framework. ONA still maintains that for a BScN ever to be accepted as the entry to practice, appropriate programs must be in place to allow ONA members access to the degree program, including distance education, part-time studies and accommodation. As well, ONA insists on appropriate prior learning assessment and articulation.
The Board adopts a policy on duty to accommodate, outlining its intent and shared responsibility towards this goal. A guide is to be produced that will outline the process to be followed in negotiating modified work.
In order to make Board committees more efficient and cost effective, the Board decides to combine the functions of the Executive Committee and Finance Committee in 1995. The new combined committee will contain four Board members-at-large and the three executive officers.
Sept. 15-16 - About 320 ONA members get a comprehensive indoctrination into Ontario's new employment equity law during a large-scale workshop at Toronto's Royal York Hotel. It is the first time ONA has held an education seminar for such a large group. The multi-media workshop includes an education segment through theatre and song, presentations, panel discussions, videos, group activities and lively discussions on racism, discrimination and employment equity. Participants are also educated on their roles and responsibilities with respect to implementation of the new legislation in their workplaces. Featured speakers include Elaine Ziemba, Ontario Minister of Citizenship, and Juanita Westmoreland-Traoré, Ontario's new Employment Equity Commissioner.
ONA asks Health Minister Ruth Grier to convene a meeting of all involved parties, either individually or collectively, to look into allegations of human rights abuses and racial discrimination in the province's hospital sector. ONA indicates there are many flaws within the current arbitration system that render findings of discrimination in workplaces in the health-care system almost impossible. Of further concern is the Ontario Human Rights Commission's refusal to investigate complaints from unionized nurses on the presumption that their union will represent them in their complaints. ONA feels the Commission is obliged to deal with human rights' complaints because it is mandated to do so by the government. ONA says it has seen a growing number of discriminatory employer practices throughout the entire health-care system that cross the full spectrum of discrimination.
At its September meeting, the ONA Board issues yet another blacklisting, this time the City of Windsor as the employer for Huron Lodge Home for the Aged, Local 53. The blacklisting is issued because of the employer's failure to comply with pay-equity legislation for its 27 registered nurses and for its delaying tactics during negotiations for their first collective agreement. The nurses have been trying to negotiate pay-equity adjustments since 1988 and have been working without a contract since March 1991. With the Board's decision, Huron Lodge becomes the 10th agency to join ONA's blacklist and the fourth in 1994.
ONA is granted leave to appeal an Ontario Divisional Court decision that quashes two rulings of the Pay Equity Hearings Tribunal regarding Glengarry Memorial Hospital. The Divisional Court found the Tribunal exceeded its jurisdiction when it required a pay equity adjustment to be piggybacked on top of rates negotiated under the collective agreement, although the hospital's pay rates for registered nurses equaled or exceeded that of the male comparator.
ONA member Betty Rheaume, RN, wins the Liberal nomination for the Sudbury riding of Nickel Belt to become the declared opponent of Ontario Treasurer Floyd Laughren for the next provincial election. A public health nurse and veteran political campaigner, Rheaume will be taking her second shot at Laughren, to whom she lost in the 1990 provincial election. Laughren has represented Nickel Belt at Queen's Park for 23 years. Rheaume, the former president of Local 87 at the Sudbury and District Health Unit, has also campaigned twice for mayor in the Sudbury municipal elections. As well, she took her court challenge of the Municipal Act to the Supreme Court of Ontario in trying to overturn the legislation that prevents civic employees from serving in public office.
Nursing education must adjust to meet a changing political, cultural and social environment, says ONA, in detailing its position on nursing education in an article that runs in the Provincial Nurse Educators' Interest Group publication. ONA says nursing's complexity and knowledge requirements are increasing as the focus in health care shifts from institutions and the treatment of illness to the community sector. This shift calls for an examination of nursing's future educational requirements. Recognition of individual past experience is essential in assessing the courses required to complete higher levels of education, and must be reflected in program criteria. As well, says ONA, programs must be committed to eliminating barriers to access (geographic location, language, culture, scheduling, costs, etc.) and institutional transferability must be accommodated.
ONA, the CNO, the RNAO and the RPNAO collaborate on a joint submission to the Attorney General's Interim Advisory Committee Substitute Decisions Implementation Task Force. Their primary message is that nurses are the most qualified people to do mental capacity assessments because of their highly-developed assessment skills and holistic approach to assessment. The joint submission reflects a thorough agreement among the four nursing groups, both about nurses' ability to assess mental capacity and the need to devise a protocol which would best serve the patient.
In a presentation to the Standing Committee on Social Development looking into long-term care reforms, ONA calls for more comprehensive human resource planning and stronger terms for governance and accountability. ONA says the legislation as proposed could encourage agencies to continue to use less-qualified workers in an effort to control costs, and not fully utilize registered nurses to their level of education and skill.
November - ONA members from Local 198 in Smith Falls Community Hospital stage pickets to protest the board's decision to grant a $30,000 raise to the hospital administrator.
Nov. 11 - ONA members receive a number of improvements thanks to an arbitration award which covers nurses in 185 hospitals participating in central bargaining. The award deals extensively with ONA's layoff and recall rights and the hospital rationalization process, and incorporates a number of human rights and other legislative issues into the hospital collective agreement. The arbitration was conducted pursuant to the Hospital Labour Disputes Arbitration Act and, along with the items agreed to during the negotiation process, will form the basis for a three-year agreement, expiring March 31, 1996.
At ONA's 21st annual meeting in Toronto on Nov. 15-17, members settle a long-standing issue concerning allied health personnel, voting 89.3 per cent in favor of deleting from the Constitution Article 3.01 (b) and (c), which severely limits allied health membership in ONA. Instead, they strongly support a new Article 3.01(b), which defines allied personnel and expands the criteria for their acceptance as members of ONA.
An amendment to ONA's Constitution and Statement of Beliefs, which adds a section on discrimination and racism, is unanimously carried. The section enshrines ONA's commitment to zero tolerance for harassment and discrimination in the workplace, and its belief that it is the right of all of its members to work "in an environment that promotes dignity and respect for everyone." Meanwhile, 120 members participate in the five equity caucus groups that have been established as part of the Board's human rights' initiatives. Participants sit in on sessions specific to the designated groups, including visible minorities, women, disabled and aboriginal, as well as francophone and gay/lesbian. They are invited to discuss their concerns, experiences and expectations with respect to employment equity.
For the first time during annual meeting week, a special meeting is held, with members hearing a report from the Ad Hoc Committee on Organizational Structure. At that special meeting, members vote to incorporate the role and functions of the Nominations Committee and Constitution Amendments and Resolutions Review Committee for 1996. They also defer to the next annual meeting a motion that education be funded centrally. An extra day is added after annual meeting business is concluded for members in the hospital sector to discuss the central hospital arbitration award that was recently brought down. The award is generally well received with the inclusion of stronger layoff language.
A motion directing ONA to launch a media campaign to inform and seek public support in preventing the further erosion of nursing and the quality of patient care is resoundingly carried. Members direct ONA to use up to $500,000 from the Security Fund towards the campaign.
A resolution that ONA join the National Federation of Nurses' Unions is turned down. However, ONA is directed to investigate the feasibility of membership in the Ontario Federation of Labour, the Canadian Labour Congress or any other labour organization deemed of benefit to ONA members, and report its findings at the next annual meeting.
Voting delegates rescind a 1990 motion that limits organizing of non-viable groups to 15 per year and carry a motion to retain ONA's current method of dues collection as a flat monthly amount for all members.
A motion to increase dues by $2 per member per month is carried, which means members will now pay $47.75 per month. Of that, $7 goes back to local, $1.25 is the AIDS/LTD premium, $2 goes to LEAP and the balance of $37.50 is Operating Fund revenue. Members defer to the next annual meeting a motion directing ONA to look into the current method of dues deductions, and possibly instituting biweekly deductions.
The Board is directed to look into accommodation issues for future annual meetings, in particular for members who are breastfeeding, and to report back at the next annual meeting.
Toronto artist Gillian Fishman is the winner of the competition for the commission of an art piece that will honour ONA's 20th anniversary. Her watercolour painting, "The Negotiator", is chosen from among a variety of multi-media work submitted in the past year, and is unveiled at the annual meeting. The painting will hang in the lunchroom at ONA head office.
In her farewell speech, ONA President Ina Caissey, RN, tells members that ONA is fighting for the future of nursing as well as the future of the organization. "We must continue to work as a collective in these difficult times. It is vital that nursing survives the changes in health care and that we make decisions that ensure our future."
Jane Cornelius, RN, is elected President, stepping in from the Vice-President's role. Connie Phelan, RN, becomes Vice-President having served as Secretary-Treasurer, and Barb Conion, RN, former Region 2 Representative, is the new Secretary-Treasurer. For the first time in a number of years, all but one seat on the Board is contested in the election.

1995

Jane Cornelius, RN, is president.

As 1995 opens, 18 registered nurses from Local 51. Glazier Medical Centre in Oshawa, brave the bitter cold in a 20-day strike that ends on January 30. The RNs, who await first-contract arbitration, are seeking job security and reasonable working conditions. They are also without benefits, including a drug plan. Another issue is a 10-per-cent reduction in the nurses' work hours, resulting in a loss of wages.
Jan. 11 - ONA and other major provincial unions meet with Health Minister Ruth Grier to reinforce the need for an employment security agreement for the health care sector. The unions tell Grier there should be mandatory hiring from the Health Sector Adjustment Panel registry in the redeployment of workers affected by restructuring. "This is the most equitable method of addressing redeployment issues for those negatively affected by the reform and restructuring activities occurring in Ontario," says ONA President Jane Cornelius, RN.
Regulations that give one health profession authority over the scope of practice of another are absolutely wrong, ONA tells the Ministry of Health's Professional Relations Branch. In its submission to the branch, which has been soliciting input from the health professions as it develops regulations for the province's new Nursing Act, ONA says that without a written order from another health professional, nurses are currently able to provide less health care than a lay person.
Feb. 6 - Without a reallocation of resources and better use of its highly-skilled human resources, Ontario's health care system may soon become unaffordable, ONA President Jane Cornelius, RN, tells the Ministry of Finance's 1995 Pro-Budget Round Table. The problem is that while there's enough money in the system, it must be reallocated. Among ONA's recommendations: only the most effective and least-costly treatments should be used; the emphasis should be shifted from institutional to community care; better self-care resources are needed; and dialogue on realistic limits to health care should be encouraged between providers and consumers.
Feb. 8 - ONA calls on the provincial government to evaluate the impact of rationalization and restructuring on patient services, and to be cautious in its approach to change. "The same economic pressures that were evident in the institutional care sector in 1994 are being felt this year as hospitals continue to restructure and rationalize their services," ONA President Jane Cornelius, RN, tells the Finance and Economic Affairs Standing Committee. "We have seen an enormous shift in the way we provide health services, however, we know of no evaluation to show how patient care has been affected."
February - A planned redesign of St. Joseph's Health Centre in London to an American-style system has nurses of Local 45 fearing for their jobs and the quality of health care provided by the hospital. ONA says the redesign would allow unregulated workers to replace nurses and would have a negative impact on patient care. While layoffs are expected as the hospital tries to trim $10 million from its 1995-96 operating budget of $145 million, administrators decline to say how many jobs will be affected, but admit nurses, who make up 1,000 of the 2,800 hospital employees, will see the bulk of the layoffs.
Statistics Canada reports that in 1993, there was one Canadian Registered Nurse working in the profession for every 122 residents. In 1983, that figure was one nurse for every 143 residents. Most nurses continue to work in hospitals (67 per cent), followed by nursing homes (11 per cent), community health (6 per cent), educational institutions (3 per cent), physicians' offices (2 per cent) and other 11 per cent.
ONA staff and members bid a sad farewell to colleague and friend, Louise McKay, who loses a brief, but courageous battle with cancer. Louise, whose first nursing jobs were in unionized hospitals, set about getting the nurses at the former Owen Sound General Hospital certified with ONA and became the Local's founding president. She joined ONA as an employment relations officer in 1984, initially in the Toronto office and then based in Timmins. She came back to Toronto to work as a broad-based ERO and ultimately moved to our London office.
A report by a Metro Toronto District Health Council committee calls for sweeping changes to the number