York region and nurses agree on new deal

About 250 public-health nurses will be seeing a more than 1-per-cent wage hike and an increase in work benefits, after the York Regional Council approved a two-year renewal collective agreement between the York region and the Ontario Nurses’ Association (ONA) on Thursday.

Negotiations began in September, months after the collective agreement for ONA expired on March 31, 2017.

The nurses have been working without a contract since. The new contract is expected to go into effect in March 2019.

“Our objective is always to reach a mutually agreeable contract between our unionized employees and the corporation that is respectful of our taxpayers,” said York region chairman and CEO Wayne Emmerson.

“I offer my continued thanks and praise to our nursing professionals for continued commitment to maintaining our high standards of service delivery, benefiting residents across York region.”

Along with the wage hikes and an increase in benefit coverage for mental health services, the nurses will also see an additional1.5-per-cent increase in wage over two years of the contract, and an introduction of a mandatory generic drug platform, according to a news release issued by the York region. When ONA and the York region reached a tentative agreement two weeks ago, ONA president Vicki McKenna told the Star that one of the major concerns for the nurses was how many hours they were spending on travelling to locations where they were assigned to work. This includes travelling to various clinics or to residences to help patients. With files from Alanna Rizza and Jenna Moon