Ontario long-term care nurses head to arbitration over wage gap

Some 4,400 Ontario long-term care nurses began arbitration Monday after negotiations broke down this spring, amid frustration over a bargaining process the union describes as unfair.

In arbitration, a neutral third party hears submissions from both the union and the employer — in this case the Ontario Long-term Care Association — before issuing a final, binding collective agreement.

Ontario Nurses' Association president Erin Ariss told CBC News that frustration centres around provincial legislation that prohibits nurses from striking, resulting in what she described as unfair bargaining processes that end in arbitrators "imposing a decision" on nurses.

The current negotiations only involve nurses working in private long-term care homes. Nurses working for municipally-run long-term care homes were included in bargaining last year for hospital staff, which also ended in arbitration. That resulted in a deal Ariss described at the time as a "new low in the history of bargaining" after it failed to include the minimum staffing levels nurses requested.

The ONA's top priority in this week's discussions is seeking wage parity between private and public-sector long-term care nurses. "It is exactly the same work, but for wages [for private-sector nurses] that are inferior, in some cases, by $10 to $15 per hour," Ariss said.

Ariss argues that the real risk to patients comes when nurses are unable to take job action to guarantee adequate staffing levels and working conditions. Last month, the ONA announced a constitutional challenge to the Hospital Labour Disputes Arbitration Act, which prevents nurses from striking. The application has been filed, with the union's legal team submitting evidence to support it over the summer.