Description of the Organization
The Ontario Nurses Association (ONA) is a trade union that represents registered nurses and other allied health professionals in the province of Ontario, Canada. The organization has its headquarters in Toronto but also operates regional officers in other Ontario towns. Founded in 1973, ONA represents over 65,000 members working in hospitals, public health, long-term care facilities, and community agencies throughout the province (ONA, 2020). ONA represents over 14,000 nursing students who are members of the Canadian Nursing Students Association (CNSA) (ONA, 2020). It is a member of the Canadian Federation of Nurses’ Union (CFNU.
Historically, ONA is known for its rapid growth in the country, making it the largest trade union for nurses in Canada. In March 2019, members of ONA unanimously vote to go on strike against the 1% raise in the proposed Windsor-Essex County Health Unit (ONA, 2019). After several weeks of negotiation, ONA won an annual 1.5% pay raise for three years, which is a 4.5% total increase (ONA, 2019). Also, ONA successfully negotiated for increased family medical leaves and the prohibition of discrimination based on gender identity, sexual orientation, and gender expression.
Current or Previous Labor Relations Strategy and its Collective Bargaining Priorities
ONA’s labor relations are generally based on the Ontario Labor Relations Act (1995) which governs the relationship between unions and employers in the province. This law defines the rights and responsibilities of each worker and those of their employers and unions. Each nurse and student nurse has the right to join the union of choice and become an active member. ONA’s labor relations strategy is to advocate for the workers’ rights and responsibilities. For rights, each nurse is protected from discrimination, interference, restriction, coercion, and intimidation. ONA also agrees that there will be no strikes
ONA’s collective bargaining priorities are based on its mission and vision. The mission is to be a proactive union with a commitment to improving the economic welfare and quality of life for its members while also enabling them to provide society with high-quality care (ONA, 2020). The union ensures that all of its members are well represented and that their rights under the collective agreement with the government of Ontario Province are protected. In addition, the union strives to ensure that the members achieve the best possible terms and conditions of employment
Union Structure and Purpose (or Mandate) in Supporting Its Membership
A Board of Directors (BoD) is the highest decision-making unit in ONA’s organizational structure. The BoG comprises the President, who is the head of the entire organization, the CEO, the General Counsel, the Administration Coordinator, and board members. Below the BoG are six senior executive officers responsible for finance, labor relations, communications, negotiation, and legal matters. Under each of these departments are managers holding various offices responsible for different functions and responsibilities (ONA, 2020). Since ONA has 5 regional offices, each is headed by a First Vice President, it has 5 different “Region” Presidents.
Internal and External Factors Affecting ONA
The shortage of nurses is a major internal factor that is affecting ONA, in the same way as other unions and the Canadian public health sector in general. Due to an aging workforce and the general population, Canada is increasingly facing a shortage of nurses. It is expected that by 2022, the country will see a shortage of about 60,000 nurses (Nowrouzi et al, 2016). Although Ontario has been hiring more nurses during the Covid-19 pandemic, reports show that many nurses are leaving the profession after serving for a short period (Dykes & Chu, 2020).
ONA, like many other unions in the healthcare sector in Canada and other parts of the world, is facing a major problem due to the advancement in technology. Improved technology is a threat to the human element in nursing and healthcare as it progressively replaces workers with machines as well as person-person interactions between nurses and patients. Robots are replacing nurses in some areas, which might lead to reduced demand for nurses and reduced membership at ONA. There is a need to address this problem through bargaining by ONA
Identification of Articles in the Collective Agreement
In this case, the first article identified is Article 6.05 Occupational Health and Safety under the Collective Agreement between ONA and the hospital.
Present provision: This article provides that when making some occupational health and safety decisions, the Hospital should not wait for full scientific or absolute certainty before it decides to take reasonable actions that might reduce risks and protect the nurses.
Proposal
The proposal under the article is that when faced with occupational health and safety decisions, the hospital should never await full scientific or absolute certainty before the stated reasons. In this case, the actions shall include the provision of personal protective equipment that the employees require based on their clinical and/or professional judgment, which plays a role in reducing risk and protecting those specific employees.
Identification of Articles
2) 10.07 (f)-Job Posting
Present provision
If a nurse is selected because of a posted vacancy or a Request for Transfer, he or she should need to be considered for a further permanent vacancy for a period of six months starting from the date of selection. However, this does not apply to the nurses who are applying for vacancies or requesting a transfer to full-time or regular part-time job positions posted as per provisions under Article 10.07 of the collective bargain agreement. Also, it does not apply to the nurses who have been posted or transferred as a result of a layoff.
Proposal
If a nurse is selected because of a posted vacancy or a Request for Transfer, he or she should not be considered for a further permanent vacancy for the next six to nine months from the date of selection. Nevertheless, this should not apply to the nurses who are applying for new vacancies or requesting a transfer to full-time or regular part-time positions advertised according to the provisions under Article 10.7 of the same agreement.
Factors that May Impact ONA’s Bargaining Power
Strength of the Union: Collective bargaining power is affected by the strength or weakness of the union in various ways. If the union is weak, then it will not be in a position to bargain effectively. Luckily, ONA is a strong union with good leadership and a membership of more than 65,000. Therefore, it will be easy to bargain because the union is strong.
Legal factors: ONA will face some legal issues. For instance, there are no laws forcing hospitals and other healthcare institutions to develop specific types of leadership. Rather, hospitals are free to adopt any fitting leadership structure and style.
Managerial attitudes: Hospital managers are likely to have negative attitudes toward some demands by ONA such as adopting authentic leadership styles, striving to improve the work environment, and decreasing burnout.
Bargaining Strategy, Proposals, and Rationale
It is necessary to use the integrative bargaining strategy. The rationale for using the integrative bargaining strategy is to create a win-win rather than a win-lose situation. ONA will be seeking to ensure that a new supportive style is adopted by hospitals. Secondly, ONA will demand safety-conscious supervisors in hospitals who will help nurses reduce their intention to leave, which can help in fighting nurse shortages in Ontario. The third proposal is to ensure that hospitals have adequate training facilities for IT that will train nurses to adopt technology in their work.
References
Dykes, S., & Chu, C. H. (2020). Now more than ever, nurses need to be involved in technology design: Lessons from the COVID‐19 pandemic. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 16, 10-14. Web.
Lee, H. F., Chiang, H. Y., & Kuo, H. T. (2019). Relationship between authentic leadership and nurses’ intent to leave: The mediating role of work environment and burnout. Journal of nursing management, 27(1), 52-65. Web.
Mundlak, G. (2020). Organizing matters: Two logics of trade union representation. Edward Elgar Publishing
Nowrouzi, B., Rukholm, E., Lariviere, M., Carter, L., Koren, I., Mian, O., & Giddens, E. (2016). An examination of retention factors among registered nurses in Northeastern Ontario, Canada: Nurses intent to stay in their current position. Work, 54(1), 51-58. Web.
ONA. (2019). Our campaigns.
ONA. (2020). ONA: About us. Web.
Strudwick, G., Booth, R. G., Bjarnadottir, R. I., Rossetti, S. C., Friesen, M., Sequeira, L., Munnery, M., & Srivastava, R. (2019). The role of nurse managers in the adoption of health information technology: Findings from a qualitative study. JONA: The Journal of Nursing Administration, 49(11), 549-555. Web.
Zaheer, S., Ginsburg, L., Wong, H. J., Thomson, K., Bain, L., & Wulffhart, Z. (2019). Turnover intention of hospital staff in Ontario, Canada: Exploring the role of frontline supervisors, teamwork, and mindful organizing. Human resources for health, 17(1), 1-9. Web.