Local nurses, healthcare workers protest ‘unfair wage cut law’ Bill 124

By Dani-Elle Dubé

A group of nurses gathered at the office of Conservative MPP Jeremy Roberts to protest Bill 124, the “unfair wage cut law.”

Protesters marched back and forth in front of the Ottawa West-Nepean MPP’s office on Merivale Road on Friday, March 4 in the afternoon. 

Signs were held high and workers braved the 20 km/h winds and 40 km/h wind gusts to get their message heard.

In a statement, the Ontario Nurses’ Association (ONA) said Roberts needed to hear that nurses and healthcare professionals will not stand by Bill 124 “drives” them away.

“We need decent wages and working conditions to stay in health care. Bill 124 must be repealed to ensure that our health-care system has the nurses and health-care professionals to provide the care our patients, residents and clients need,”Bernadette Robinson, region 2 vice-president of ONA, said in a statement. 

In a February statement regarding Bill 124, ONA said the bill was contributing to an increasing wage gap for nurses. 

According to data by ONA, nurses’ wages have increased by just over 15 per cent over the last 12 years, from a max salary of $82,758 to $95,589 for full-time nurses with 25 years of service. This is compared to over 30 per cent for both police officers and firefighters.

Bill 124 caps salary increases for public sector employees at one per cent. Some of the other professions included in Bill 124 are social workers, children’s aid workers and teachers, jobs that are usually female-dominated.

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