Registered Nurses at St. Joseph's Health Care London Choose Ontario Nurses' Association as their union

LONDON, ON, Oct. 2, 2014 /CNW/ - Registered nurses (RNs) at St. Joseph's Health Care – London have voted to make the Ontario Nurses' Association (ONA) their union by an overwhelming 87 per cent.

"ONA is Canada's largest nurses' union and we pride ourselves on providing high-value services and representation to our members," said President Linda Haslam-Stroud, RN. "I am thrilled that the RNs at St. Joseph's Health Care have chosen to allow us to represent them. We will go the extra mile to represent our dedicated RNs so that they can continue to provide high-quality patient care."

The registered nurses at the hospital, long-term care, rehabilitation and veterans services units were previously represented by ONA. RNs working in mental health services were represented by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU).

RNs voted at their work sites throughout Tuesday and Wednesday in London; votes were tallied by the Ministry of Labour today.

The vote became necessary when the Ministry of Health divested its mental health services. St Joseph's signed a stand-alone agreement with OPSEU in 2001 that allowed them to keep their mental health bargaining unit until the opening of a new facility at the Parkwood site. Once the new building was scheduled to be opening (in November 2015), St. Joseph's Health Care filed an application under the Public Sector Labour Relations Translation Act (PSLRTA) application. The Labour Board determined that there was a health service integration and ordered a vote of the various bargaining units to occur prior to the opening of the new building.

"RNs provide high-quality, highly skilled patient care," said Haslam-Stroud. "St. Joseph's Health Care patients are lucky to have their care, and ONA is honoured to be their union," said Haslam-Stroud.

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.

SOURCE: Ontario Nurses' Association

Ontario Nurses' Association, Sheree Bond, [phone], ext. 2430, cell: [phone], [email protected]; Melanie Levenson, [phone], ext. 2369, [email protected]; Visit us at: www.ona.org; Facebook.com/OntarioNurses; Twitter.com/OntarioNurses