After five days at the bargaining table, the professional association representing Ontario's nurses is signalling trouble in contract talks with the Ontario Hospital Association.
The Ontario Hospital Association represents the CEOs of the province's hospitals.
The Ontario Nurses Association said its staffing ratio is its top priority in talks. That's how many nurses care for a specific number of patients.
"Hospital CEOs and the Ford government have been intentionally understaffing our public hospitals to justify selling off public services to private, for-profit clinics," said ONA Provincial President Erin Ariss, RN. "Staffing ratios are the real solution to the crisis in our hospitals, not-for-profit health care."
The two sides will meet with a mediator on January 29 and 30, and ONA members have a series of escalating job actions planned in the coming weeks.
"Hospital CEOs are pushing for changes that would decimate the health workforce, and their proposal has the fingerprints of the Ford government all over it," said Ariss. "We are no longer staying silent. We are fighting back. Hospital CEOs and this government are on notice. If they pursue this agenda, they had better be prepared for the fight of their lives."
The ONA represents over 68,000 registered nurses, healthcare professionals, and 18,000 nursing student affiliates.
WindsorNewsToday.ca has reached out to the Ontario Hospital Association for comment.