Sudbury Public Health Nurses in Legal Strike Position December 4: Going to
mediation this week

SUDBURY, ON, Nov. 30 /CNW/ - The 118 public health nurses and nurse practitioners and Sudbury District Public Health officials will go to mediation on December 2 in an effort to avoid a strike and reach a new contract.

The public health nurses - members of the Ontario Nurses' Association (ONA) - have been working with an expired contract since April and are in a legal strike position as of December 4 .

"Our members and the Health Unit remain apart on a number of key issues, including wages, hours of work and benefits," notes ONA President Linda Haslam-Stroud, RN. "Public health nurses certainly don't want to leave their community vulnerable during a pandemic by striking, and they hope the mediation session will be successful.

"It's a testament to our nurses that they have worked with such dedication throughout the flu pandemic while having been without a contract for months. We certainly hope that the employer shows the respect our public health nurses deserve and have earned when we go to mediation."

Sudbury District Public Health nurses provide such services as outbreak protection (monitoring outbreaks), flu and hepatitis vaccine clinics, health education and promotion for families with new babies, as well as sexual health clinics and education for the municipality's residents.

ONA is the union representing 55,000 registered nurses and allied health professionals and more than 12,000 nursing student affiliates providing care in hospitals, long-term care facilities, public health, the community, clinics and industry.

For further information: Ontario Nurses' Association, Sheree Bond, [phone], ext. 2430, cell: [phone]; Melanie Levenson, [phone], ext. 2369