Ontario long-term care nurses head to arbitration after bargaining breakdown, criticism over process

Union officials representing some 4,400 Ontario long-term care nurses begin arbitration on Monday after negotiations broke down this spring and amidst simmering frustration over the process.

In the arbitration process, a neutral third party hears submissions and evidence from both the union and the employer — in this case the Ontario Long-term Care Association (OLTCA) — before issuing a final, binding collective agreement.

"We're hopeful, but the system, the arbitration system … is broken, it's archaic, it's oppressive," said Ontario Nurses’ Association (ONA) president Erin Ariss.

Ariss told CBC News that the frustration among her members centres around provincial legislation that prohibits nurses from striking, resulting in what she described as unfair bargaining processes that end in arbitrators "imposing a decision" on nurses.

The current negotiations only involve nurses working in private long-term care homes.

Nurses working for municipally-run long-term care homes were included in bargaining last year for hospital staff, which also ended in arbitration.

That resulted in a deal that Ariss described at the time as a "new low in the history of bargaining" after it failed to include the minimum staffing levels requested by nurses during the process.

"This [arbitration] system relies on patterns and compares nurses … to other occupations that aren't saving lives every day," Ariss told CBC last week. She said that in the 2025 previous arbitration process, nurses were unfairly compared with retail clerks and office workers.

The ONA’s top priority in this week’s discussions, she said, is seeking wage parity between private and public-sector long-term care nurses.

"It is exactly the same work, but for wages [for private-sector nurses] that are inferior, in some cases, by $10 to $15 per hour," she said.

Sitting on the other side of the table is the Ontario Long-term Care Association (OLTCA) representing for-profit nursing home operators.

The OLTCA turned down the CBC’s request for an interview, but wrote in a statement that it hopes the arbitration process "moves forward constructively."

For Ariss, seeing bargaining break down twice in a row between her union and employers is a signal that a more legal change is needed.

At present, nurses are unable to undertake job action of any kind, including striking, under the Hospital Labour Disputes Arbitration Act.

Last month, the ONA announced a constitutional challenge to that legislation.

"Every worker should have the right to strike or withdraw their labour in this country. That's what makes us a free country," Ariss told CBC News.

The move was criticized by the Ontario Hospital Association last month when news of the challenge broke. In a statement, the OHA called it a "reckless challenge to legislation that protects patients from unnecessary risk."

But Ariss argues that the real risk to patients comes when nurses are unable to take job action to guarantee adequate staffing levels and working conditions.

She says the application for the challenge has been filed, and that the ONA’s legal team will be submitting evidence to support it over the summer.