FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 18, 2017
SUDBURY – Health-care professionals who work for Health Sciences North (HSN) have voted to join the Ontario Nurses’ Association (ONA), the province’s largest union of health-care professionals. After three days of voting, results were 370 votes for ONA and 358 for the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU).
“More than 85 per cent of the HSN membership were engaged in the democratic voting process to choose their union,” said ONA Provincial President Linda Haslam-Stroud, RN. “We’re honoured that the majority of ballots counted were in support of ONA.”
Only a small number of votes, 14 in total, remain in dispute.
“We’re confident this dispute will not affect the outcome of the vote and ONA proudly welcomes these new health-care professionals to our strong health-care union,” said Haslam-Stroud.
ONA already represents 1,300 registered nurses (RNs) at HSN, and, then last year, several groups of health-care professionals – about 190 workers in total – also voted to join ONA.
“Last year some of us signed union cards and voted to join ONA because we wanted to have a professional voice at the table and be respected by our employer,” said physiotherapist Michelle Beaudry, president of ONA’s health professionals’ Bargaining Unit at HSN. “As a united group, we can better advocate for high-quality patient care.”
Given the numbers participating in this vote, Haslam-Stroud says it was a “David and Goliath” fight for the privilege of representing these caring and committed new members. "ONA is the union that health-care professionals want to belong to and we want them to join us,” she said.
ONA is the union that proudly represents 64,000 health-care professionals, as well as almost 16,000 nursing student affiliates, providing care in hospitals, long-term care facilities, public health, the community, clinics and industry.
Welcome to ONA Local 8 news and information site.
