Talks between public health nurses and the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit have broken down.
The Ontario Nurses Association has confirmed to Blackburn News that bargaining, which resumed early Wednesday morning, has broken down with the health unit in an effort to end an almost three-week-old strike.
In a statement, the ONA says they are "deeply disappointed" that this round of talks have failed.
“We had expected that this employer would come to the table prepared to bargain with us,” said ONA president Vicki McKenna. “Unfortunately, this employer had no intention of actually bargaining in good faith and walked away from the table in less than an hour.”
The health unit had accepted a request from the Ontario Nurses Association Local 8 on Tuesday to resume bargaining. The 86 nurses walked off the job on March 8 after voting down the health unit's latest contract offer. They had been working without a contract for almost a year.
Wages and pay equity have been the main sticking points in contract talks, and both sides have blamed the other for walking away from the bargaining table.
The nurses' union said they had no choice but to walk the picket line after mediation failed to resolve the issue. The health unit said the wage increase the union is seeking is unreasonable and out of their reach.
More details on this developing story will be passed along as they become available.