Ontario hospital nurses awarded additional pay after Bill 124 struck down
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Loading... - Clarissa Gataki
- 04 May 2023
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Ontario hospital nurses should get retroactive pay for three years during which they were subject to a wage restraint law that has since been ruled unconstitutional, arbitrators have ruled.
The 2019 law, known as Bill 124, capped wage increases for the nurses and other public sector workers at one per cent a year for three years.
It was ruled unconstitutional in November and though the government is appealing that, the Ontario Nurses' Association sought retroactive pay through an arbitrator, since the contracts were subject to be reopened if Bill 124 was repealed or declared invalid.
Arbitrators have now awarded the nurses an additional 0.75 per cent wage increase for the year starting April 1, 2020, an additional one per cent for the following year and an additional two per cent for the final year.
The first two years are dealt with in one arbitration decision and the third year in another, and in the latter decision the arbitrator writes that the "indisputable staffing crises in nursing" were factors.
"Recruitment and retention are critical considerations that we cannot ignore in rendering our award," the arbitrator wrote. Read More…
