More than 150 members of the Ontario Nurses Association (ONA) held a rally outside St. Joseph\u2019s Healthcare Hamilton Thursday morning demanding care over budget cuts.<\/p>\n
The rally had closed Charlton Avenue East between James and John streets, but it has since reopened.<\/p>\n
The union representing around 68,000 health-care professionals is demanding that employers reverse their position cuts, and instead implement safe staffing levels and nurse-to-patient ratios.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s been more than 1,300 registered nurse (RN) job cuts in just over a year and the Ford government continues to do this in every sector of health care,\u201d said ONA provincial president Erin Ariss. \u201cHospitals, public health units, long-term care homes \u2014 pretty much everywhere, every setting, we\u2019re seeing them cut RN jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ariss says that morale among nurses currently working with patients is \u201cabsolutely abysmal\u201d and that one nurse is often seen doing the work of three or four nurses.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re working in dangerous conditions, they are facing burnout and challenges, injuries like we\u2019ve never seen before,\u201d said Ariss.<\/p>\n
The rally comes after members of the local labour union CUPE 786 protested in front of the hospital last month over the elimination of around 60 job positions.<\/p>\n