Public Health Nurses Invite Employer to Negotiate at 4 pm Today: Space booked, nurses await response

THUNDER BAY, ON, Oct. 29, 2018 /CNW/ - Public Health Nurses working for Thunder Bay District Health Unit have booked a meeting room at the Towneplace Suites by Marriott in Thunder Bay and say if the employer is serious about talks, the Ontario Nurses' Association (ONA) team will await their arrival today at 4 pm.

"This employer says it is serious about reopening negotiations, and so is the Ontario Nurses' Association," says ONA President Vicki McKenna, RN. "We have a meeting room booked and have extended the invitation. If the employer is serious about reaching a deal, we are happy to talk to them."

The 58 public health nurses are entering the third week of a strike that has seen the community's highly educated nurses on the picket lines and multiple vital services and programs cancelled by the employer. On Friday, the health unit released a statement saying it was awaiting word from ONA.

The strike has impacted some of the community's most vulnerable populations, including First Nations populations and school children.

"No one is more aware than our dedicated public health nurses of the effects on the health of their community of this strike," said McKenna. "They want to get back to doing what they love to do as soon as possible. They just need their employer to get back to the table. ONA has space booked in Thunder Bay to reopen talks and we hope the employer is at the table with us."

ONA is the union representing more than 65,000 registered nurses and health-care professionals, as well as 16,000 nursing student affiliates, providing care in hospitals, long-term care facilities, public health, the community, clinics and industry.

Visit us at: www.ona.org; Facebook.com/OntarioNurses; www.Twitter.com/OntarioNurses

SOURCE Ontario Nurses Association

Sheree Bond, [phone], ext. 2430; cell: [phone]; [email protected]; Melanie Levenson, [phone], ext. 2369; [email protected]

Related Links

http://www.ona.org