This article is an update to the story of the CNIs in CUPE 4207 and the Conciliation meeting. To read the article written before the meeting, click here.
CUPE 4207 held a Solidarity Rally for CNIs at Brock as Conciliation went underway.
Early patrons of the Solidarity Rally on April 4 were greeted by Ron Walker, a Political Science TA and member of CUPE 4207’s first unit.
CNIs are real nurses who do real nursing and deserve a fair wage, said Walker as he held a CUPE flag and Solidarity Rally poster.
Inside the International Centre, CUPE representatives, CNIs and other supporters gathered and conversed. A self-serve breakfast bar provided coffee, tea, pastries and breakfast sandwiches, with vegan options available.
In the hour before the Conciliator arrived, the members of the Unit 4 Bargaining Committee, including Darlene Polich, Monica Hlywka, Rebecca LaRocca and Phil Wachel, were eager to explain just why this meeting was so important.
Polich described how this is a contract years in the making, with discussions about CNIs joining CUPE starting nearly three years ago, and the creation of Unit 4 occurring in 2023. Part of why this is so important is because of the drastic increase in CNIs over the last decade, with 2017 only seeing about 15 CNIs compared to this year’s 50.
Hannah Van Eek, a third-year nursing student at Brock, could support this. She said that because of the nursing shortage in Ontario, she’s seen more and more nursing students coming to Brock, with the year before her being 80 students, her year being 160 and the year below her being around 220. The program is growing, she said, but it cannot do so without CNIs.
CNIs are responsible for the experiential component of the Brock nursing program, a component that is simultaneously necessary for students to learn and which has attracted many students to Brock, including Van Eek.
The job entails an intimidating workload: 12-hour shifts on the floor supervising up to eight students at a time, on top of carrying out traditional nursing duties, grading, lesson planning and ensuring student success. The responsibilities rival that of a standard Registered Nurse (RN), yet the contract wage of CNIs at Brock is significantly less.
Despite the University’s financial troubles, Unit 4 described how it was actually in Brock’s best interest to pay the CNIs a market-rate wage. Since the nursing shortage is becoming such a big issue as many nurses reach retirement age, an age where many nurses enjoy moving into CNI work, more schools – including colleges – are beginning to offer nursing programs that pay CNIs the market rate.
There’s more competition these days, said Hlywka, and nurses are being pulled all over the province to work.
Van Eek fears a nursing program at Brock without any CNIs. Clinical experience has taught her the most out of any of her courses, she said, providing her with in-person and hands-on learning. However, she said that the challenges she and other students often face on the floor, including moral and ethical dilemmas, would be significantly harder to overcome without the CNIs there to guide and assist when needed.
At the rally, emotional bonds were not only evident between CNIs but also between them and their students. When the Conciliator arrived, Unit 4 was pulled away and the rally participants were left talking amongst themselves, about the CNIs, the contract and other, unrelated topics.
Conciliation continued into April 5, which CUPE 4207 reported was very productive, with all of the outstanding articles agreed to except for the wage settlement. By 5 p.m., both parties agreed that a third date for Conciliation was needed, the date of which is still undetermined but estimated to take place during the beginning of May.
With the wage settlement being the most important topic of negotiations, a conclusion to this process is not yet visible. However, the agreed-upon third day of Conciliation is a hopeful decision, not quite so good as finalizing a contract, but one in which CNIs can continue to work and support their students for now.
Day three of Conciliation will bring more news, but for now, it’s business as usual.