The deal is done.
The Grey Bruce Health Unit Board ratified a new contract with the Ontario Nurses Association Local OO4 on Friday.
This new deal represents 38 Registered and Public Health Nurses in Grey Bruce.
The five year contract honours the provincial public sector wage freeze with no salary increase in the first two years — and a 2.5 per cent increase in years three, four and five.
The deal is retroactive to January 1st, 2011.
Health Unit Board Chair Mike Smith says negotiations were tough at times — and he credits the bargaining teams on both sides with working hard to get a deal in place.
The contract wording itself was also adjusted, to clarify work hours and other minor stipulations.
Smith says it’s a relief to get the deal in place to avoid a strike by the nurses == who would have been in legal strike position today had the contract not been ratified.
