Picket line grows at Hastings Prince Edward Public Health as CUPE members join strike

The sounds of honking, chanting and cheering can be heard along North Park Street in Belleville, Ont., which is par for the course these past few weeks as public health nurses have been picketing outside the Hastings Prince Edward Public Health office for over a month.

But today, they received some backup. CUPE-represented health unit employees joined them on the picket lines after rejecting the health unit’s latest contract offer.

“We really thought that going into this negotiation that we would be in a position, that the employer would show us some respect, show our value for everything that we did during the pandemic for the community. and no, we’re not at that point,” Dhannon Del Grosso, vice-president of  CUPE Local 3314, said.

Wages and benefits are the sticking point for both the Ontario Nurses Association and CUPE-represented employees. The CUPE members include dieticians and health inspectors.

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They say that so far they’ve been offered a two-per cent wage increase and not much more. But the health unit says even bringing that much to the table has proven difficult.

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“With ONA, they’re looking for something that we’re struggling a little bit with our funding mechanism. so that’s their number one item,” David Johnston, Hastings Prince Edward Public Health Unit director of corporate services, said.

“With CUPE we have some wage-related items and some non-wage-related items.”

Both sides continue to meet regularly. With CUPE representatives sitting down at the bargaining table this morning. the health unit is hopeful these latest rounds of talks can lead to a resolution sooner rather than later.

“It feels like we’re close, like there’s a very close, razor-thin margin from where we are and where we want to be,” Johnston said.

“But this is often I think where the holding ground is for some people so we’ll just have to wait and see if we can come to something.”

“If it was that razor-thin, then they should be able to find what we’re looking for to help get us back in the building to provide the services. They’ve had over six months to do that and they’ve refused to do so,” ONA Local 31 bargaining president Josh Davidson-Marcon said.

So with no end in sight, striking employees hope the sound of honking and cheering will continue to send a message to the health unit and put an end to the weeks-long strike.