Nurses, healthcare professionals prepare to protest Bill 124 at office of MPP Lisa MacLeod

Front-line registered nurses, healthcare professionals and allies are calling for the repeal of the Ford government’s Bill 124, and they'll be doing just that at the office of Nepean MPP Lisa MacLeod.

A rally is scheduled to happen on Friday, November 12 at noon, in front of MacLeod’s office on Greenbank Road. It will last until 2 p.m.

Region 2 Ontario Nurses’ Association (ONA) members, supporters and allies of Unifor, SEUI Healthcare, CUPE, the Ottawa Labour Council and members of the Ottawa Health Coalition will be present.

“Bill 124 suppresses wages for three years for the dedicated front-line workers who have worked throughout the pandemic, despite risks to themselves and their families during a pre-existing nursing shortage made much worse by COVID-19 – and Bill 124,” Sheree Bond of the Ontario Nurses’ Association said in a statement provided on Thursday, November 11.

“While saying he ‘loves’ nurses, Premier Doug Ford has actually passed legislation to suppress their wages, override their collective agreements, give their employers unprecedented powers to redeploy them anywhere, deny vacation and more,” ONA president Vicki McKenna, registered nurse, said. “As our members are seeing what equates to a pay cut, male-dominated first responders have been able to freely negotiate much more reasonable wage increases.”

McKenna added that the pandemic and the “regressive policies” of the Ontario government have made an existing nursing shortage even worse.

“Bill 124 is simply the last straw for many of our nurses and healthcare professionals,” she says. “They question whether their work and dedication will ever be valued and rewarded. This Bill has got to be repealed and respect returned to this profession.”

ONA Region 2 members say they hope the rally will inform their community of the wage inequality with police and firefighters and the unfair interference in free collective bargaining — and support them.

ONA is the union that represents more than 68,000 registered nurses and healthcare professionals, as well as 18,000 nursing student affiliates, providing care in hospitals, long-term care, public health, the community, clinics and industry.

Bill 124 was introduced by the provincial government in 2019. It limits regular annual salary increases for nurses to one per cent for each 12-month period.

According to the Bill, the government is committed to “restoring the province’s fiscal health” by putting Ontario in a position to balance the budget.

The Bill’s preamble goes on to explain that Ontario inherited a “substantial deficit,” and that the debt accumulated is among the largest subnational debts in the world.

The purpose of the Bill is to ensure that increases in public sector compensation “reflect the fiscal situation of the province” and are consistent with the principles of responsible fiscal management and protect the sustainability of public services.