Windsor-Tecumseh MPP Percy Hatfield says he's getting a lot of calls from concerned residents as a strike by nurses at the Erie St.Clair Community Care Access Centre drags on.
"There's 266 of them on the picket line and a handful, fewer than 20 managers trying to do the jobs of 266. You can expect that there will be impacts throughout the system."
Hatfield and Windsor West MPP Lisa Gretzky sat down with Ontario Nurses Association CEO Marie Kelly Monday morning to discuss the ongoing labour dispute.
Kelly says her organization has been called into meetings with two CCACs in Thunder Bay and Sudbury only to find out they weren't interested in negotiating, only in holding exploratory talks. So far, she says she has not received a call from the Erie St.Clair CCAC.
Hatfield says it's time for the two sides to get back to the bargaining table, or at least agree to binding arbitration. "Get this over with. People are calling our office saying they're not getting service. We want this over with."
He also says the impact of the strike isn't just being felt by patients receiving at-home care. "You have people coming into emergency, who should be getting a bed, but there's no room in the hospital," he says. "Some of the bed space is being taken up by people who could be discharged to go home or could be sent to a long-term care home but it can't happen right now."
The nurses demand a 1.4% wage increase.
