January 20th, 2022 | Padmaja Rengamannar
Throughout this pandemic, doctors and nurses within the healthcare system have been our saving grace. It is crucial for us to protect public service employees such as nurses and doctors if we are to successfully enter a more stable and healthy environment in the future. Ontario is facing an exorbitant number of positive COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, placing a significant burden on our healthcare system continually for the past two years. Nurses are toiling tirelessly to support and provide Ontarians and their own families with high-quality healthcare; however, the support they are receiving from the provincial government to carry on with the increased workload during the pandemic is proving to be sorely insufficient.
In 2019 the provincial government passed bill 124, “An Act to implement moderation measures in respect of compensation in Ontario’s public sector” to restore a sustainable financial plan that would protect and preserve public services, including health care and education, in the long run, and the province intends to do this by “restoring fiscal balance and lowering Ontario’s debt burden”. What this bill means for nurses and other public sector employees is that it restricts their “annual salary increases to one percent” over a three-year period. The Ontario Nurse’s Association has raised a Charter challenge against the bill, contending that it bars the rights of nurses to negotiate a more reasonable wage that will enable them to continue providing the much-needed support during our current health crisis. One of the dangers that this bill poses for the public health sector is that it does not afford nurses reasonable wage increases that keep up with inflation. If the province continues at this rate, it will possibly result in an exodus of nurses from the public sector towards the private sector.
The pandemic has placed excessive pressure on nurses and healthcare workers alike causing many to leave or even retire from the system, and this is not favourable for public health and nurses’ wellbeing given that “nursing vacancies in Ontario have more than quadrupled over the last five years”. Ontario’s public healthcare system needs nurses and healthcare workers more than ever, and bill-124 impedes Ontario’s healthcare system from functioning steadily while providing the necessary resources and support to fight this pandemic. Labour lawyers warn the provincial government of the risks of a nurse exodus (particularly those who are experienced) from the public health sector; nurses have even taken to the streets in Nathan Phillips Square to voice their concerns and press for better accommodations.
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