MEDIA ADVISORY: Nurses Province-Wide to Picket for Better Staffing, Better Wages, Better Care
February 22, 2023
TORONTO, ON., February 22, 2023 – Registered nurses and health-care professionals across Ontario will be on the streets holding pickets tomorrow outside of hospitals, MPP offices and other locations to call for better staffing and better wages to ensure they can provide better hospital care to their patients.
Thousands of nurses, health-care professionals and supporters will be picketing in locations across the province to seek support for their urgent demands. The Ontario Nurses’ Association (ONA), the largest provincial nurses’ union in Canada, has been in bargaining with the Ontario Hospital Association, seeking a better contract for its 60,000 hospital-sector members following three years of wage suppression under Bill 124, recently ruled unconstitutional by the Ontario courts. Nurses and community allies are picketing in support of a contract that will improve retention in the critically understaffed sector and lead to better patient care. This is the second in a series of escalating actions across Ontario planned by nurses and health-care professionals who are fighting for crucial improvements to help ensure Ontarians get the public hospital care they need and deserve.
WHAT: All-out picket for Better Staffing, Better Wages, Better Hospital Care
WHO: Front-line nurses and health-care professionals, ONA leaders and supporters
WHEN: Thursday, February 23, 2023, times vary by location
WHERE: Province-wide picket locations listed here: https://www.ona.org/bettercare/feb23/
ONA is the union representing 68,000 registered nurses and health-care professionals as well as more than 18,000 nursing student affiliates providing care in hospitals, long-term care, public health, home and community care and industry.
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