TORONTO — The Ontario Nurses’ Association (ONA) has launched a campaign for wage equality, demanding home-care nurses pay parity in Ontario with hospital staff.
Bargaining for a new collective agreement is underway. The union argues that home-care nurses face risks and pressures that hospital nurses do not. Data from Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board shows more than 2,100 violent incidents involving home-care nurses in the past two years. That rate is five times higher than in other nursing sectors.
ONA provincial president Erin Ariss said the challenges are unique. Home-care nurses often work alone, drive long distances, and see too many patients in one day. “We deserve equal pay,” she said. “We’re demanding it and we’re not going to settle, not this time.”
The wage gap is significant. According to the ONA, home-care nurses employed by the Victorian Order of Nurses (VON) can earn up to $20 less per hour than hospital nurses, despite having the same education and licensing. The problem worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic when many home-care nurses left for higher hospital wages.
Veteran nurse Lorna Thompson remembers when pay in home care was higher than in hospitals. Over time, wages fell behind inflation. She said pay would be about 14 per cent higher today if it had kept pace.
With Ontario’s senior population set to rise, demand for home care is expected to grow. The ONA warns that without home-care nurses pay parity in Ontario, staffing shortages will deepen.
The union represents about 230 nurses employed by VON. The organization did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
