Ontario Nurses Hold Militant Mass Rally and Province-Wide Pickets

More than 2,000 nurses and health care professionals, fellow workers and community allies converged at the Sheraton Centre in Toronto on March 2, outside negotiations between the Ontario Nurses' Association (ONA) and Ontario Hospital Association for a new contract covering 60,000 nurses and health care workers working in hospitals.

More than 23 unions including Steelworkers from Local 1005 in Hamilton, Toronto Steelworkers, Unifor, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, SEIU Healthcare, as well as the Ontario Federation of Labour and many others participated in the spirited rally.

The rally was opened by Bernie Robinson, Acting President of the ONA. She announced that more than 40 pickets had taken place across Ontario on February 23 in the lead up to this rally. A number of nurses from across the province also addressed the rally, expressing their dedication to nursing and their frustration at seeing their colleagues leave in droves, forced out by untenable working conditions and low salaries which drove nurses to leave public hospitals to work for private agencies or to quit the profession entirely. One nurse pointed out they are losing people with 20 and 30 years of experience who should be there to mentor young nurses, while another expressed the nurses' conviction to resolve the situation in their favour and that of the public, saying, "Nurses are essential, Doug Ford is not."

Following the rally, the participants marched up University Avenue along Hospital Row to Queen's Park, chanting slogans along the way. Nurses and hospital workers taking their breaks lined up outside their workplaces with signs and joined in as the march went by. Motorists and pedestrians also expressed support for the nurses. The action ended in front of Queen's Park with the nurses expressing their determination to continue the fight to win the wages and working conditions needed to provide the high standard of care that patients require.