Ontario nurses launch constitutional challenge over lack of right to strike

A nurse tends to a patient at the Bluewater Health Hospital in Sarnia, Ont., on Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

TORONTO — The Ontario Nurses’ Association is launching a constitutional challenge of a law that prevents them from taking any form of job action during the bargaining process.

They say the Hospital Labour Disputes Arbitration Act is among the most restrictive of its kind in Canada.

Association president Erin Ariss says it prevents not just full strikes, but also other forms of job action.

When there are disputes in the collective bargaining process between nurses and employers like hospitals, and a contract cannot be agreed upon, it goes to arbitration and Ariss says that system is failing to address systemic issues of equal wages and understaffing.

Health Minister Sylvia Jones would not comment on the legal challenge, but says the government values nurses.

An arbitrator last year awarded hospital nurses pay increases of 5.25 per cent over two years, but the union was disappointed it did not address minimum staffing levels, which they say was their top issue.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 11, 2026.

Allison Jones, The Canadian Press