Arbitrator awards hospital union in Ontario with 6% wage increase, new benefits

Nearly 65,000 hospital workers across Ontario will be getting a wage increase of six per cent.

After signing a solidarity pact last fall, the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions-CUPE and SEIU Healthcare said they have both secured new contracts that will deliver significant wage increases, new benefits, and better premiums to the workers they represent.

The six per cent increase will be spread out over a two-year period.

“Today’s arbitration decision will lift the spirits of frontline hospital workers who are struggling with impossible workloads in a staff retention crisis,” said Michael Hurley, President of OCHU-CUPE. “Significant improvements to dental and other benefits, real wage increases, and substantial adjustments to premiums will all contribute to making these frontline hospital staff feel valued and help them to better cope with the cost-of-living crisis that all working people are facing.”

This contract also follows a retroactive wage from June which was slightly over 6 per cent.

READ MORE: 44% of Hamilton’s hospital workers ‘dread going into work’: survey

This new contract also comes after a poll earlier this year showed that 44 per cent of hospital workers in Hamilton dreaded going to work and were considering leaving their jobs.

This agreement comes a day after a similar local healthcare union took to the streets of Hamilton to demonstrate outside two of the city’s biggest hospitals.

READ MORE: ‘We know our worth’: Hamilton health care workers send message to HHS

This story is developing. Check back for more.