Achi news desk-
Nurses at most long-term care homes in Ontario are about to get what their union is calling the most significant pay increase in more than 30 years.
An arbitration decision released this week gives working members of the Ontario Nurses Association a pay boost of about 11.5 per cent over two years.
The arbitrator awarded a three per cent increase in each of the two years, and set the salary grid amounts around 5.5 per cent higher, effective July 1.
The starting salary for registered nurses in the long-term care homes goes from $32.22 an hour to $33.99 in the new grid, while the top eight-year rate goes from $48.78 to $51.46, but when the two years of three percent increase is included in it rises to $54.60.
ONA also represents nurse practitioners, registered practical nurses, personal support workers, healthcare assistants and guest attendants in some of the homes.
President Erin Ariss says the decision is the first step towards recognizing the very skilled work being done by nurses and health professionals in the sector.
“While the decision does not eliminate the pay gap between public and private sector nurses, it significantly reduces the gap between them and brings us closer to equal pay,” she wrote in statement.
& copy 2024 The Canadian Press
