Media Advisory - Ontario Nurses March for Solidarity: Toronto RNs participate in Labour Day Parade

TORONTO, Aug. 31, 2014 /CNW/ - Registered nurses, allied health professionals, Ontario Nurses' Association (ONA) board members, staff and their friends and families will march in Toronto's annual Labour Day Parade tomorrow as part of the march for "solidarity for a better city."

ONA President Linda Haslam-Stroud, RN, says the parade is significant for ONA members who continue to face RN cuts across the province. Since 2012, hospitals have eliminated more than 1,300 RN positions, leaving Ontario with the second-worst RN-to-patient ratio in Canada. Just to close the gap of nursing care that patients in Ontario now face, the province would have to hire 17,500 more RNs.

Labour Day began in 1872, when Canada's first significant workers' rights demonstration was held. The Toronto Trades Assembly organized the protest to demand the release of 24 leaders of the union, who had been imprisoned for striking to campaign for a nine-hour workday. Soon afterward, Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald promised to repeal all anti-union laws in Canada.

Unionized public-sector workers have been under attack in Canada. Labour Day is an opportunity to show solidarity and inform people of the good work that unions continue to do for all working people.

ONA is the union representing 60,000 registered nurses and allied health professionals, as well as more than 14,000 nursing student affiliates providing care in hospitals, long-term care facilities, public health, the community, clinics and industry.

What:	Toronto Labour Day Parade
Who:	Front-line registered nurses, Ontario Nurses' Association board members, staff, friends and family
Where:	Labour Day Parade route ending at the Canadian National Exhibition, Toronto
When:	September 1, 2014

SOURCE: Ontario Nurses' Association

Ontario Nurses' Association: Andy Summers, Cell: [phone], [email protected]; Sheree Bond, Cell: [phone]; [email protected]; Visit us at: www.ona.org; Facebook.com/OntarioNurses; Twitter.com/OntarioNurses