Health unit nurses handed layoff notices in Windsor

The Windsor Essex County Health Unit has issued layoff notices to nine registered nurses from the Healthy Families and Schools program.

According to Ontario Nurses' Association (ONA) Local 8 president Barb Deter, the layoffs are due to pending provincial cuts.

"The funding was previously split 75-25 between the province and the municipality, but that funding equation is changing to 70-30," said Deter in an ONA Facebook post."Our employer says it has been instructed to cut the budget by five per cent, and that means the loss of highly skilled and experienced public health nurses."

Earlier in 2019, 86 Windsor Essex County Health Unit (WECHU) nurse practitioners, public health nurses and registered practical nurseswent on strike for two months.

The strike ended after the two sides agreed on a new three-year contract which includeda two per cent pay increase.

"We thought we had moved on," said Deter. "This latest announcement is devastating."

According to Marc Frey, manager of planning and strategic initiatives at WECHU, there will be staffing changes to both union and non-union positions in the upcoming year.

"The full scope of these changes will be presented to the Board of Health on Monday, November 4 at a budget meeting," said Frey in an email to CBC News.