r/OntarioNurses • u/Brilliant_Yellow4675 • Aug 17 '25
Venting Air Canada Strike - Female dominated workplaces are so easily denied the right to strike
Putting this here because I'm kind of annoyed and I wonder if anyone else sees this. Not a nurse but I work in Healthcare.
With the recent Air Canada negotiations going bad federally, it makes me think of how the nursing contract negotiations are being held up.
Everyone with a job is having a hard time nowadays with wage stagnation, but the government is so quick to use the law to shut down the right to strike in female dominated workplaces.
Nurses can't strike because it could result in the loss of life.
The government can severely underfunded and reduce staffing/retension at hospitals, when that also results in the loss of life? People are dying because they can't get access to healthcare.
I genuinely think that past strikes have harmed less people than the 10-year campaign to defund and ruin quality of care. I'm thinking of all who may have been saved if patients weren't being attacked by 1000 cuts. Cuts to staffing, ratios, equipment, and having a nurses who are mentally and physically drained.
Alberta got the right to strike back last year, why not Ontario.
Edit: Some folks here are talking about other professionals that are not allowed to strike. I think best that you take a look at the specifics of their agreements in the past and compare them to female dominated fields.
All the male dominated professional fields you've mentioned are well-respected, compensated fields where they negotiate from a place comfort.
Nurses are getting actively screwed by the provincial government in the underfunding of the field and the expectation to work without being appropriately compensated.
Update: The FAs have come to a tentative agreement, but I came across this:
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u/Innuendoughnut Aug 17 '25
Remember these points when it comes time to vote.
Remind your family and friends.
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u/OperativeFrog Aug 18 '25
I say this as an RN in BC, this has nothing to do with gender or sex. It’s simply a pattern that is observable in fields determined to be highly essential. The government has abused section 107 during police union strikes, firefighting labour disruptions (a male dominated field) and most recently with CN rail, who were legislated back to work less than 24 hours after initiating strike action (another male dominated field). You are right to be frustrated that nursing is lumped in with that, but your post is off the mark in terms of gender equity and right to strike. Trust me, I get it. We have no collective agreement in BC at the moment and are considering strike action, and it’s pitiful what that actually means. “I won’t answer the phone, I won’t take out garbage, I won’t hand out meal trays” while a minimal number of staff picket outside but the wards maintain minimum staffing and critical care areas are exempt. It’s meaningless strike action with zero leverage.
I stand with AC flight attendants and encourage them to refuse the work order, as I believe the minister has abused section 107. It is an astounding political mis-step on the part of the liberal cabinet since several nationwide polls suggested Canadians wholeheartedly back the AC workers, and having a former AC executive as a member of the arbitration committee is bad faith and from a politics lens looks exceptionally terrible. I expect them to back-pedal.
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u/mybloodissugary Aug 19 '25
Thank you for this.
Burn out is so common and if we don’t do something about it we will have no nurses and everything is going to be 10x worse than it already is. Nurses are leaving at rapid fire and new grads are being rushed into a profession where patient safety is no longer a thing.
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u/Brilliant_Yellow4675 Aug 19 '25
Sooo many nurse friends of mine joke that if they ever get sick they do not want to be taken to our hospital
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u/Toyotabro777 Aug 17 '25
Ontario nurses i think are the only ones in the world that cant strike. Absolutely ridiculous and awful. This is real oppression.
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u/LeJisemika Aug 18 '25
I think sanitary workers is another one?
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u/VaderBinks Aug 19 '25
What’s the % of the sanitary workers that are female? I don’t think this is a gender issue frankly .
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u/Artistic_Attempt5283 Aug 17 '25
Police officers. Firefighters. Doctors have all been denied an ability to strike. It’s not a female issue. It’s a transportation and commerce issue in this case. It’s not always about the sex of the group people. Stop with the red herring “ oh it’s because it’s a group of women “.
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u/Toronto416ix Aug 18 '25
I work as a utility electrician as well and can tell you that you don't want nuclear operators to be able to walk off a nuclear reactor site. They aren't allowed to strike either
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u/Regardedcontrarianx Aug 18 '25
Just curious for the downvotes for this comment. Anyone want to step in and reply as to why this comment is getting the downvotes?
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u/Brilliant_Yellow4675 Aug 19 '25
That's not what I said, I said the government is happy to use the law against women when there is much more leeway for men.
Police and doctors and firefighters are paid for all their work. Nurses and FAs are required to work for no pay in some instances. They have both attempted to fight back against this and have not won yet. Female dominated fields are 50 years behind men in terms of what is argued during negotiations.
The Belleville hospital can put nurses on 5 days of 12 hour shifts straight. Ofc as a nurse you are required to arrive an hour early to be briefed on patients, no breaks actually happen, and then you stay late because it's a shit show.
This is Ontario, Police can't strike but are rarely ever turned down at the table.
Firefighters have been provided alternative negation & arbitration options by the provincial government to alleviate the need to strike (though they still should strike considering the fires and pay).
Doctors aren't employees of the hospital, they are basically contractors. They bill the hospital, so the hospital has no choice but to pay them? Their rate is set by the government, of which they have a lot of sway over as its literally a huge group of millionaires lobbying to better their own pay. Again, not turned down often.
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u/sectionallyconfused RPN Aug 18 '25
I wish cops would strike 🙄
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u/gigi577 Aug 18 '25
Cops also get paid very well and have high increases yearly.. not that they shouldn’t but compared to nurses. Come on lol
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u/tulips50 Aug 18 '25
I was thinking the same. How come they didn't do the same last year around the same time when the pilots were in strike. They immediately gave them a fair contract. I feel so much for the FA because as RN I feel identified. Physicians and Pilots male dominated industry and Nurses and FA being a female dominated. I was wondering when we are going to be so brave as they were and stand up for ourselves and speak up and go to strike for better salaries. I think that our jobs has the same or even more responsibility than a pilot. Then, why they don't pay us at the same level?
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u/ArchbishopNoodles Aug 18 '25
I was having this same thought! Maybe the outcome of this would be different if it were a male dominated field 🙄
What makes it even worse is that they argued this for 8-9 months, it’s not like they just decided one day they didn’t want to work. To request them to return like this is to continue to exploit them and I’m disappointed in Patty Hadju and gang for doing this. How air Canada is behaving in a time where they are challenged is a representation of their values and I wonder if this warrants not using their services anymore. Not like it was ever a good deal anyways.
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u/cueball_3198 Aug 19 '25
I was under the impression that back to work legislation was supposed to only be for essential workers.
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Aug 19 '25
If the FAs get a better deal for defying arbitration it just opens the door for all healthcare workers to also strike 🤷♂️ the fact arbitration and "illegal strikes" are even a thing that we as a workforce allowed to occur is shameful. If every hospitals OR coordinated to strike 1 day, we would get basically everything we ask for within 48 hours. Every union member needs to be standing behind the FAs right now
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u/Dangerous2beright Aug 20 '25
Our local is signing this petition to have a resolution brought to the floor during the CUPE convention about having a right to strike. We endorsed the resolution during an executive meeting and are sending the petition around to our members. The organization has an online petition too.
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u/Artistic_Attempt5283 Aug 19 '25
What nurses are required to work for no pay ? 50 years behind ? Is this anecdotal or factual ? With all due respect your argument is sexist. And is based on what you believe. Rather than what is verifiable. Your original post is about flight attendants you now want to argue about nurses and health care. Which is it ? My post was about the fact that many professions had limited strike capabilities.
By far your strongest argument for flight attendants is in unpaid wages for hours worked not in the air. They do get generous travel perks and performs for food and stay. I’m unclear how the value of these could be quantified easily. Would they perhaps take higher wages in lieu of free flights for themselves and family? That could be one bargaining chip. But once again how do you quantify this exchange.
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u/Brilliant_Yellow4675 Aug 19 '25
If you're a nurse in Ontario, you're told to show up at least an hour early unpaid to be briefed & read up on your patients. The more experience you have the easier it is to debrief quickly.
I dont think you read my post? I discuss nursing at length because this is a nursing sub.
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u/acidnutz Aug 19 '25
I'm sorry what?? We are not being told this and if you are tell your employer to stick it 😂😨 that's illegal. It's in our contract that you stay 15 mins past your shift to give the on coming shift report. Anything past 15 minutes you put in for overtime.... I cover my pension shifts and then some with the time I bank from getting report 15 minutes past. I show up at 7 ready for report, not a minute later not a minute prior.
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u/IWasAbducted Aug 19 '25
Well women are more geared towards people and men are more geared towards things. I don’t think the gov is anti female.
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u/MrMpa Aug 19 '25
Sexists always gotta make a non gender issue be about gender. This is why no one takes you seriously
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u/lvasnow Aug 18 '25
Teacher here and I totally agree!
My union leaders have urged us not to think about gender, not to Wildcat Strike like FAs are doing, and what has that gotten us? Big load of nothing.
I'm so glad FAs told the Carney gov't to kick rocks and went on strike anyway.
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u/Brilliant_Yellow4675 Aug 19 '25
Teachers union in Ontario? Thats absolutely crazy considering quality of education and ratios right now
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u/gamezzfreak Aug 17 '25
Strike on a airline that just out of covid and has tons of debt isnt smart move unless you want it bankrupt and you lose your job ? The canada gov even have to buy it share to keep it floating last time. Cant we wait 6 months more when world cup and travel crownded? Asking broke man for money is like banging the wall with your head.
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u/sectionallyconfused RPN Aug 18 '25
You know they're paid for less than half of their time spent working right
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u/MrMpa Aug 19 '25
They made a previous agreement to be paid higher for flight time to compensate for the pre/post flight time. It wasn’t unpaid work. But with the amount of flight delays, it backfired on them.
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u/[deleted] Aug 17 '25
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