The Ontario Nurses Association (ONA) is questioning why the Windsor Essex County Health Unit returned more than half a million dollars in funding to the province.
The ONA says the $537,776 is part of the budget document posted on the health unit's website.
ONA Provincial President Vicki McKenna says they believe the money was sent back because vacant nursing positions weren't filled, some positions were filled with lower cost workers and the health unit intentionally underspent on salary and benefits.
"Well for Pete's sake, over $500,000 last year they didn't spend on programming, this isn't logical to me at all," says McKenna. "This is a labour dispute, yes, but it's really about the services, the public health services"
She says claiming poverty when funding was returned is mystifying, adding "when you're talking about ability to pay, but you're sending money back the previous year, that doesn't quite cut it. The mathematics of it doesn't quite work"
But the CEO of the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit Theresa Marentette says the "extra" money is due to absenses such as maternity leaves, people leaving the organization and retirements.
She says the health unit couldn't use that funding for percentage wage increases and the money had to be returned to the funder which is either the province or the municipality.
"ONA's interpretation of our budget document is incorrect," says Marentette. "Our budget is complex, we don't just decide to underspend, every dollar is already accounted for and attributed to our current compliment of staff."
Marentette says says the health unit can't use that funding to address the current concerns on the table with the union, adding "we don't rely on budget surpluses to fund future financial commitments such as increased compensation packages. It would be irresponsible and not an effective use of taxpayer money to progress in that fashion."
86 ONA members have been on strike since March 8 and no new talks are scheduled.