{"id":738525,"date":"2026-06-15T15:40:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T15:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/738525\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T15:40:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T15:40:09","slug":"ontario-long-term-care-nurses-head-to-arbitration-after-another-bargaining-breakdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/738525\/","title":{"rendered":"Ontario long-term care nurses head to arbitration after another bargaining breakdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Union officials representing some 4,400 Ontario long-term care nurses begin arbitration on Monday after negotiations broke down this spring and amidst simmering frustration over the process. <\/p>\n

In the arbitration process, a neutral third party hears submissions and evidence from both the union and the employers before issuing a final, binding collective agreement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We’re hopeful, but the system, the arbitration system \u2026 is broken, it’s archaic, it’s oppressive,” said Ontario Nurses\u2019 Association (ONA) president Erin Ariss.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ariss told CBC News that the frustration among her members centres around provincial legislation that prohibits nurses from striking, resulting in what she described as unfair bargaining processes that end in arbitrators “imposing a decision” on nurses. <\/p>\n

The current negotiations only involve nurses working in private, for-profit long-term care homes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nurses working for municipally-run long-term care homes were included in bargaining last year for hospital staff, which also ended in arbitration.<\/p>\n

That resulted in a deal that Ariss described at the time as a “new low in the history of bargaining” after it failed to include the minimum staffing levels<\/a> requested by nurses during the process.<\/p>\n

“This [arbitration] system relies on patterns and compares nurses \u2026 to other occupations that aren’t saving lives every day,” Ariss told CBC last week. She said that in the previous arbitration process in 2025, nurses were unfairly compared with retail clerks and office workers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Focus on wage parity between public and private nurses<\/p>\n

The ONA\u2019s top priority in this week\u2019s discussions, she said, is seeking wage parity between for-profit and public-sector long-term care nurses.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It is exactly the same work, but for wages [for private-sector nurses] that are inferior, in some cases, by $10 to $15 per hour,” she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AThere are two groups of long-term care home nurses in Ontario: Those employed by municipal care homes, and those working in the public sector. This week’s arbitration applies only to the second group. (John Panella\/Shutterstock)<\/p>\n

The Ontario Long-term Care Association (OLTCA)\u00a0represents about 70 per cent of Ontario’s nursing home sector. A group of for-profit operators, some of which are association members, will be sitting on the other side of the table during arbitration. <\/p>\n

The OLTCA turned down the CBC\u2019s request for an interview, but wrote in a statement that it hopes the arbitration process “moves forward constructively.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Constitutional challenge launched\u00a0<\/p>\n

For Ariss, seeing bargaining break down twice in a row between her union and employers is a signal that a more legal change is needed. <\/p>\n

At present, nurses are unable to undertake job action of any kind, including striking, under the Hospital Labour Disputes Arbitration Act.<\/p>\n

Last month, the ONA announced a constitutional challenge<\/a> to that legislation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Every worker should have the right to strike or withdraw their labour in this country. That’s what makes us a free country,” Ariss told CBC News.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The move was criticized by the Ontario Hospital Association last month when news of the challenge broke. In a statement, the OHA called it a “reckless challenge to legislation that protects patients from unnecessary risk.” <\/p>\n

But Ariss argues that the real risk to patients comes when nurses are unable to take job action to guarantee adequate staffing levels and working conditions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She says the application for the challenge has been filed, and that the ONA\u2019s legal team will be submitting evidence to support it over the summer.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 3 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":738526,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[45,49,48],"class_list":["post-738525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/738525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=738525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/738525\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/738526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=738525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=738525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=738525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}