With a tentative agreement in hand, nurses working for Hastings Prince Edward Public Health are returning to work, ending a strike that began six weeks ago.
The 50 nurses walked off the job after negotiations between the Ontario Nurses’ Association and HPEPH broke down, leading to a strike that lasted a little over a month before a new deal could be made.
President of the Ontario Nurses’ Association Local 31, Joshua Davidson-Marcon, said they voted on the weekend to accept the new contract after negotiations bore fruit.
“We were in negotiations Friday and unfortunately we weren’t able to meet with our members Friday evening. So we set a meeting for yesterday (Saturday) to vote,” said Davidson-Marcon. “The negotiating team would have reached an agreement or proposed agreements on Friday around three and then we voted around six, seven o’clock last night.”
The full details of the contract haven’t been released yet, as HPEPH needs to ratify the deal. Public health’s board of directors is expected to hold a ratification vote at a regular meeting Wednesday.
A media statement by the ONA confirmed the offer includes a pay increase, greater than two per cent yearly, for the three years of the contract.
Davidson-Marcon said the nurses are eager to return to work.
“You know, we we would always wish to do a little bit better, but we believe that this is the best deal that we could get at this point,” said Davidson-Marcon. “Our members are looking forward to getting back to servicing the community that they love so much. So we’re feeling good.”
This deal does not cover 70 striking workers represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees, including support staff such as health inspectors, dental assistants and hygienists, health promoters and other workers. That strike will continue.
Meanwhile HPE Public Health says with the nurses returning to work some of its programs cancelled due to the strike will gradually resume but some programs will not as its CUPE workers continue a strike.
Find up to date detail on public health programming here.
