Hospital professionals sign province-wide tentative agreement

TORONTO, May 30, 2016 /CNW/ - More than 12,000 hospital professionals working at 53 Ontario hospitals have reached a new tentative collective agreement with the Ontario Hospital Association (OHA).

The three-year central deal, signed in the early hours of May 30 after a marathon bargaining session, includes improvements to wages, vacation entitlements, and shift premiums, plus other changes.

"This negotiated settlement is the result of the collective commitment of our bargaining team, the OHA, and mediator Kevin Burkett," said Sandi Blancher, chair of the hospital professionals bargaining team for the Ontario Public Service Employees Union. "On behalf of the team, I want to thank everyone who made this agreement possible – especially our members for their continued support and patience.

"We worked diligently as a team to achieve gains on the issues that matter most to our members, and we succeeded."

Hospital professionals include lab technologists, radiation technologists, respiratory therapists, social workers, pharmacy technicians, and workers in more than 250 other occupations.

"I want to congratulate the bargaining team for achieving the first central contract in a decade that was settled at the bargaining table, not through arbitration," said OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas. "Our members bring so much to Ontario's health care system, and I believe this contract recognizes that."

Details of the tentative agreement will be made public once they are communicated to members of the bargaining unit. Ratification votes will be held on a local basis throughout the month of June; the OPSEU bargaining team is unanimously recommending that members ratify the agreement.

SOURCE Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU)

Sandi Blancher, 519-857-3674