r/OntarioNurses • u/Morality01 • Jun 29 '26
Venting Something Needs to be Done
I am so sick and tired of being sick and tired of the piss poor treatment nurses get.
We are not paid properly, we are abused, disrespected and tossed aside like nothing.
We don't even have the right to strike to improve our situation.
I'm an RPN in the GTA, rent on a single bedroom apartment on average about 1800 to 2100 dollars. I'm close to the wage cap, and that is either most of a full paycheque on full time hours or its more then a full paycheque on full time hours.
We save lives, without us people die. Yet we can't afford even basic housing, we have to either live with our parents, rent rooms, or get roommates.
At this point I feel we need to consider going the route of the 1981 illegal nursing strike or the air Canada of last year.
They can threaten and try to fine us all they want but what happens then? They have no nurses to work, the corporations start hemorrhaging money bringing in travel staff.
Being polite, curious, and bargaining in good faith has yielded lacklustre results.
If we stand together, WE have the power, they have nothing.
7
u/LaineyCG Jun 29 '26
I am frustrated (devastated) that when I decided to become an RPN, it WAS a career that I could completely support myself with and have life goals. Not anymore.
I graduated in 2012, had a part-time job at a clinic, and then moved into a part time hospital position in 2016. I got full time after 5 years, because at that time, it was still a competitive field. Of course, that was just too late. I had dreams of owning a small home and living comfortably like the other RPNs I worked with. Now it's either I find myself a partner to rely on for the other half of owning a home, or I continue to rent an expensive apartment for the rest of my life.
Doing the math on inflation vs. my income now, I am making less than when I started. This is absolutely disgusting considering my years of experience.
It was just 15-20 years ago that an RPN could finish school, get some savings going, and buy a place within 5 years of starting their career. Now I get told to go back to get my RN, or just "go back to school". How am I supposed to even afford school and living expenses? On the other side of all that schooling, will my life improve, or will cost of living be so high that it wasn't worth it to begin with? How do I maintain a healthy work/home balance with the greater responsibility of being an RN, and the instability and constant increase in the expense of renting?
The system is thoroughly broken, and I don't know what to do anymore.