As nurses put their lives on the line every shift,

We need real support from the Ontario government. This is not about dollars and cents. This is about equity and fairness.

Katherine Sainsbury, a Toronto hospital RN. Nurses are calling on the province to lift a limit on public sector wage increases that they say has widened a gender pay gap.

Furious at a one per cent pay hike while on the front lines of COVID-19, hospital nurses called Friday for an exemption from the law that limits publicsector wage increases in Ontario.

The one-year increase was awarded by an arbitrator this week citing Premier Doug Ford’s Bill 124, which restricts provincial public sector raises to one per cent annually for three years.

Thousands of registered nurses have taken to social media and are contacting Ford’s office to complain the increase, retroactive to April 1, is less than received by male-dominated professions such as police and firefighters — who are employed by municipalities and not subject to the law.

“Bill 124 interferes with Charter rights regarding free collective bargaining,” Ontario Nurses’ Association president Vicki McKenna said, noting the premier and Health Minister Christine Elliott have repeatedly referred to nurses as “heroes” in the fight against the novel coronavirus.

“It has widened the gender pay-equity gap and the impact on the morale of our dedicated RNs and health-care professionals, working under tremendously challenging circumstances during this pandemic, has been devastating.”

The union launched a charter challenge of the law — which applies to one million provincial public sector workers, including teachers — in December.

More than 5,000 health-care workers have caught COVID-19 and seven have died, with nurses complaining about shortages of personal protective equipment such as masks, face shields and gowns that have been rationed, leaving them more vulnerable to infection.

The health minister acknowledged their service but blamed the arbitrator’s decision.

“Nurses are heroes in our health-care system. They have risen to the challenge,” Elliott said.

“The matter was heard by the arbitrator. It was an independent process, protected everyone’s rights. And so that isn’t something for us to question. That’s outside of our jurisdiction.”

Nurses are among the frontline workers due to get temporary pandemic pay of $4 an hour that Ford promised in late April, but it has not appeared on their cheques yet. The bonus will expire in mid-August.

A Toronto hospital RN said the outrage she and her colleagues are feeling is about more than money.

“As nurses put their lives on the line every shift, we need real support from the Ontario government,” Katherine Sainsbury told the Star. “This is not about dollars and cents. This is about equity and fairness.”

McKenna said nurses have not received a wage increase ahead of the inflation rate in a decade, making the arbitration ruling a “tipping point for frustration.”

“At a time when the province desperately needs its RNs and health-care professionals to provide quality patient care, it is vital that we attract and retain more nurses to the system,” added McKenna, whose union represents 68,000 registered nurses and health-care professionals.

Ford has also run afoul of several groups of health-care workers on the front lines who were excluded from pandemic pay, including medical radiation technologists who perform X-rays, CT scans and MRIs on patients with COVID-19.