/R E P E A T -- Media Advisory - Brantford Front-Line Nurses, Health-Care Professionals to Rally/

Ontario Nurses' Association members call for repeal of Bill 124, Doug Ford's wage-suppression legislation  

BRANTFORD, ON, Oct. 28, 2021 /CNW/ - Front-line registered nurses and health-care professionals will rally tomorrow in Brantford to call on the Ford government to repeal its wage-suppression legislation, Bill 124.

The Ontario Nurses' Association (ONA) members will hold the rally Friday in front of Brantford-Brant MPP Will Bouma's office on Nelson Street. Bouma is also Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Finance.

"Ontario's dedicated RNs and health-care professionals have sacrificed their safety, health and peace of mind caring for Ontarians throughout the pandemic," says ONA President Vicki McKenna, RN. "While saying he 'loves' nurses, Premier Doug Ford has actually passed legislation to suppress their wages, override their collective agreements, give their employers unprecedented powers to redeploy them anywhere, deny vacation and more. As our members are seeing what equates to a pay cut, male-dominated first responders have been able to freely negotiate much more reasonable wage increases."

McKenna notes that the pandemic and the many regressive policies of the Ford government have made an existing nursing shortage much worse. "Bill 124 is simply the last straw for many of our nurses and health-care professionals," she says. "They question whether their work and dedication will ever be valued and rewarded. This Bill has got to be repealed and value and respect returned to this profession."

ONA Region 4 members say they hope the rally will inform their community of the wage inequality with police and firefighters and the unfair interference in free collective bargaining ? and support them.

ONA is the union representing more than 68,000 registered nurses and health-care professionals, as well as 18,000 nursing student affiliates, providing care in hospitals, long-term care, public health, the community, clinics and industry.

WHO:      Ontario Nurses' Association front-line RNs and health-care professionals
WHAT:    Rally to call for the repeal of Bill 124
WHEN:    Friday, October 29, 2021 from noon to 1:30 pm
WHERE:  Office of Bill Bouma, MPP, 96 Nelson Street, Brantford, ON

Visit us at: www.ona.org; Facebook.com/OntarioNurses; www.Twitter.com/OntarioNurses

SOURCE Ontario Nurses' Association