It’s National Nurses Week and OPSEU/SEFPO is extremely proud to represent thousands of dedicated nursing professionals on the front lines in hospitals, long-term care, community health care, psychiatric facilities, correctional institutions and mental health agencies, among others.
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the essential work that Registered Practical Nurses (RPNs), Registered Nurses and Nurse Practitioners in OPSEU/SEFPO do every day and how instrumental they are to everyone’s lives.
Throughout the pandemic, nurses have provided care during undoubtedly grueling conditions. The overwhelming demand for care made many workplaces unsafe, leading to threats to their mental health and physical health. Many nurses reported incidents of workplace violence and experienced mental stress and trauma.
There has been an exodus of nurses from the health care field over the past two years due to high stress conditions combined with legislation that overrode collective agreements and weakened workplace protections, and the Ford government’s wage restraint bill.
For too long, the Ford government has failed to take meaningful action on nurses’ concerns. On June 2, OPSEU/SEFPO is committed to voting to make a difference for nurses.
We will vote for a government that won’t bring in legislation that treats nurses with contempt, like Bills 106, 124 and 195. We will vote for a government that won’t take us down the road toward privatized health care; one that ensures that public health care is properly funded and resourced.
We invite you to check out OPSEU/SEFPO’s provincial election platform and join us in pledging to build an Ontario that respects nurses and the frontline health care professionals they work alongside.
This Nurses’ Week, let’s build power in our solidarity and commit to electing a government that will listen and take action to improve working conditions for nurses. Change is possible when we work together and mobilize our collective power.
In solidarity,
JP Hornick, OPSEU/SEFPO President
Laurie Nancekivell, OPSEU/SEFPO First Vice-President/Treasurer