http://windsorstar.com/news/local-news/stop-pushing-windsor-nurses-to-detroit-mpp-gretzky-tells-health-minister
Stop pushing Windsor nurses to Detroit, MPP Gretzky tells health minister
The hospital announced the layoffs last month — a total of 166 full-time-equivalent jobs, primarily RNs, offset partially by the hiring of 80 registered practical nurse FTEs to replace 80 RN FTEs.
Windsor Regional says it is being squeezed financially because overall hospital funding in the province has been frozen at $19 billion for five years, and that money is divided up according to a new funding formula that gives more money to hospitals in areas of higher population growth. That means hospitals in areas like Windsor where growth is slow, the funding goes down — a $10-million reduction last year and another $10-million reduction this year.
A total of 169 full- and part-time nurses are being affected by the cuts, according to the Ontario Nurses Association which has launched a petition and letter writing campaign.
In the Ontario legislature Wednesday, Gretzky (NDP — Windsor West) said the nurses facing layoff are resorting to jobs at Michigan hospitals. “These nurses should be working in Ontario hospitals, not being forced by this government’s cuts to leave the country just to find work,” she said in a question period query to Minister Eric Hoskins.
“When will the Liberals stop cutting our hospitals, stop pushing Ontario’s nurses to take jobs in Michigan and start protecting patient care in all our communities?”
Hoskins replied that his ministry had recently provided Windsor Regional with $7 million in additional money to help with its situation, and added that the hospital is one of only a few in the province with all-RN nursing staffs. Most have moved to an RN-RPN mix. (Actually, while Windsor Regional’s Met location is all-RN, its Ouellette location has an RN-RPN mix. The 80 new RPNs being hired will be going to Met to provide it with a similar mix as at Ouellette.) High-seniority RNs make $44 an hour while RPNs make $27.50.
In his reply to Gretzky, Hoskins said: “I think we should leave it to the experts, to the LHIN, to the local leadership, to make sure the mix of nurses and other staff in the hospital truly meets the patients’ needs.”
Sue Sommerdyk, the Ontario Nurses’ Association local president who represents 1,550 RNs at Windsor Regional, said the minister should be ashamed for blaming Windsor Regional for keeping its level of care “higher” than what other hospitals have.
“I really think it’s appalling,” she said. “With all these issues of workload and patient care and all the things we have today, the government should be augmenting the staff, it should be bringing in RPNs to work with the RNs, not cut the RNs.”
Michigan hospitals have also organized job fairs in Windsor to go after nurses cut by Windsor Regional, according to Gretzky.
But Sommerdyk doesn’t view the Detroit hospitals as a great option. Nurses must have written their Michigan exams and be licensed to work there; there are hassles at the border and tunnel tolls to contend with during their daily commute; there are safety concerns working in Detroit; and the wages and working conditions in these non-unionized hospitals vary widely, Sommerdyk said.
“We want our nurses to stay in Ontario,” she said. “They want to stay in Ontario, they want to work where they grew up, they want to be around their family and friends.”
