TORONTO, ON, April 30, 2026 – Ontario Nurses’ Association (ONA) front-line nurses were forced to walk away from nursing homes provincial bargaining yesterday because for-profit nursing homes CEOs failed to negotiate a fair deal. Nurses’ main demands include wage parity with hospital nurses and safe working conditions.
“During the past two weeks of bargaining for more than 4,400 ONA members, nursing homes employers came to the table with concessions and regressive proposals so out of touch with front-line realities that they can only be described as insulting,” says ONA Provincial President Erin Ariss, RN. “Nursing homes CEOs report strength and profit to their shareholders, yet the cupboard is bare when it comes to nurses and health-care professionals and the residents they care for every day.”
Nursing homes CEOs – including for-profit nursing homes giant Extendicare which earned more than $96 million in profits last year – continue to prioritize profit over resident care and respect for nurses and health-care professionals. CEOs failed to address the significant wage gap between for-profit nursing homes members and their counterparts performing virtually the same work in hospitals and Municipal Homes for the Aged.
“Nursing homes CEOs refused to budge at all on their disrespectful position on key issues such as wage inequity, relying on arbitration instead of meaningful bargaining to settle a new contract.” Adds Ariss, “The lack of meaningful bargaining with thousands of nursing homes members is further proof that the current system of relying on arbitration strips workers of their power to win important health-care improvements, ultimately hurting patient and resident care.”
In the nursing homes and hospital sectors, where legislation prohibits workers from taking any form of job action, the failure to achieve a negotiated settlement results in binding arbitration. “The current system relies on arbitrators who have never worked a day as a health-care worker to determine what our contract terms will be.”
Concludes Ariss, “Health-care workers and residents deserve better. We will continue to fight for better working conditions, respect and for the residents we care for.”
Nursing homes bargaining members head to arbitration on June 15 and 16.
ONA is the union representing 68,000 registered nurses and health-care professionals, as well as more than 18,000 nursing student affiliates, providing care in hospitals, long-term care facilities, public health, the community, clinics, and industry.
-30-
