UPDATE: Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2 p.m.
The Hastings & Prince Edward Public Health is getting back to business as usual.
The health unit says its board has ratified agreements with Ontario Nurses’ Association (ONA) Local 31 members and Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 3314 members.
The nursing staff represented by ONA returned to work on Monday after a six-week strike, and CUPE staff returned to work Wednesday morning, after being on strike since September 22.
The health unit says services that were halted will gradually return in the coming days.
The health unit says contracts negotiated with both unions will see wage increases of three per cent next year, and 2.5 per cent in each of the following two years.
CUPE Local 3314 President Kim Craig said the wage increase is “reasonable” and 81 per cent of members voted to approve it.
ONA Bargaining Unit President Joshua Davidson Marcon spoke to MyBancroftNow.com earlier and stated that nurses are also pleased with the new contract.
Tuesday, Oct. 3: 12 noon: Tentative agreements reached in two Public Health workers’ strike
Tentative agreements have been reached in two strikes involving Hastings & Prince Edward Public Health workers.
Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) officials say a tentative agreement with public health board has been reached. If it’s ratified, members in Local 3314, who are employed with Public Health, will end a strike that began on September 22.
A strike involving Ontario Nurses’ Association members in Local 31, which started on August 18th, ended over the weekend, when the two sides also announced a tentative agreement.
A Hastings & Prince Edward Public Health official says nurses returned to work on Monday, even though that deal hasn’t been ratified yet either.
The public health board is meeting Wednesday morning and expects to make an announcement afterwards.
In an earlier statement, public health said “the return of nursing staff will allow gradual resumption of many HPEPH services.”
But several other services will not return until the CUPE deal is ratified.
