From ifpress.com

When Ontario’s union for registered nurses campaigns against their replacement by other nurses, it’s serving its own interests — not that of patients, a rival union leader says.

“We are all professionals. We are all nurses,” said Ann Marie Tulett, a vice-president of Unifor local 27, which represents about 2,800 workers at London hospitals, including more than 80 registered practical nurses, or RPNs — a classification that now requires fewer years of education.

The Ontario Nurses Association (ONA) is fighting a shift from RNs, or registered nurses, to RPNs to protect its members jobs, not patients, she said.

“Absolutely it is,” Tulett said.

The tactic, as she sees it, is something she’d never endorse to protect RPN jobs. “I would never throw an RN under the bus,” she said.

Her comments come as hospitals across Ontario wrestle with four years of budget freezes that forced them to cut costs to make up for inflation — the ONA estimates hospitals have replaced or plan to replace hundreds of RNs, including some in the emergency room of London’s Victoria Hospital.

But while Tulett thinks ONA has demeaned the work of RPNs, a leader with ONA says that’s not the case — and that the safety of patients hangs in the balance.

“This is not a union issue. It’s a patient safety issue,” said Anne Clark, a member of ONA’s board who represents Eastern Ontario.

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