Health care professionals at Health Sciences North in Sudbury have voted to join the Ontario Nurses' Association.
About 800 workers at HSN are now members of the province's largest union of health-care professionals.
The battle to represent health care workers was a bout between two major unions.
The ONA and Ontario Public Service Employees Union were both seeking to represent the workers.
After three days of voting, the results were 370 votes ONA, and 358 for OPSEU.
“More than 85 per cent of the HSN membership were engaged in the democratic voting process to choose their union,” said Linda Haslam-Stroud, ONA president.
“We’re honoured that the majority of ballots counted were in support of ONA.”
There are 14 ballots that remain in dispute.
“We’re confident this dispute will not affect the outcome of the vote and ONA proudly welcomes these new health-care professionals to our strong health-care union,” said Haslam-Stroud.
The ONA already represents 1,300 registered nurses at HSN.
“Last year some of us signed union cards and voted to join ONA because we wanted to have a professional voice at the table and be respected by our employer,” said physiotherapist Michelle Beaudry, president of ONA’s health professionals’ Bargaining Unit at HSN.
“As a united group, we can better advocate for high-quality patient care.”
