Nursing Ratios & Union Power with Michael Hurley President of Ontario Council of Hospital Unions/CUPE
Release Date: 12/18/2025
A Battle Cry for Change: Postpartum Psychosis, Systemic Failure, and the Case of Lindsay Clancy
The Gritty Nurse
In this new episode on The Gritty Nurse Podcast with Amie Archibald-Varley, we examine the case of Lindsay Clancy through the lens of postpartum psychosis and the catastrophic gaps in mental health care that allowed it to go unrecognized and untreated. I start with the question that should be asked before every postpartum antidepressant prescription: has this patient been screened for bipolar disorder? It's now considered the gold standard of care — and it only became standard practice because of this case. From there, we talk about what early screening should look like more broadly, what...
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Why Thousands of Nurses Are Walking Out Across North America? (And Who’s Replacing Them)
The Gritty Nurse
Frontline pressures have reached a boiling point. In this swapcast episode, nurses Erica and Amie tackle the wave of nursing strikes across Massachusetts (MNA) and British Columbia (BCNU), exploring what these recent labor actions reveal about the true state of healthcare. Together, they dive into the harsh realities nurses are standing up against—from unsafe staffing ratios and lack of workplace respect to burnout and corporate greed. Erica and Amie also address the elephant in the room: "scab nurses." They break down the ethical, emotional, and financial strain traveling replacement...
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The Handover: What a 40-Year Gap of Experience Can Teach the Nursing Profession
The Gritty Nurse
How do we reclaim the narrative of modern nursing across generations? In this episode of The Gritty Nurse Podcast, host Amie Archibald-Varley sits down with extraordinary nurses, advocates, and authors Tilda Shalof and Lisa Mochrie to discuss their powerful new book, The Handover: A Nurse's Last Shift. Separated by a 40-year career gap, Tilda Shalof and Lisa Mochrie share their inspiring personal journeys through nursing to show that despite a lifetime of different experiences, we have far more in common than what divides us. At its heart, this episode is about the vital importance of nurses...
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7 Years Ago, I Hid Under My Desk--And Seven Years Later, Almost to The Day... She Was Walked Out.
The Gritty Nurse
Content note: this episode discusses workplace violence, suicidal ideation and psychological harm in a clinical/workplace setting. This week, almost seven years to the day since I walked out of a role where I once hid under my desk to escape a leader who ran her unit on fear, that same leader was walked out of hers. This isn't a celebration episode. I don't take pleasure in anyone losing their income or their identity. But I can't stay quiet about what it means that it took seven years — seven years of turnover, burnout, and silence — for accountability to catch up. In this solo episode, I...
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Follow The Legislation, Fix The Insurance! Nurse Psychotherapy Supports Mental Health
The Gritty Nurse
With a growing mental health crisis and a system bogged down by waitlists and rigid silos, a powerful paradigm shift is happening across Canada: the rise of nurse-led psychotherapy. In this educational episode, we sit down with Sheena Howard (BScN, MA, RYT, RN), award-winning Nurse Psychotherapist and the founder of Acceptance Psychotherapy. We dive deep into why Registered Nurses are uniquely positioned to transform mental healthcare. Grounded in a holistic nursing blueprint, nurse psychotherapists don't just treat symptoms in isolation; they integrate biological, psychological, and social...
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From KOBO to Digital Health: Disrupting the Status Quo In Healthcare with Mike Serbinis
The Gritty Nurse
How do we move from a healthcare system that only reacts to illness, to one that actively empowers patients? In this episode of The Gritty Nurse Podcast, host Amie Archibald-Varley sits down with Mike Serbinis, the visionary CEO and founder of League, a leading digital health platform transforming the consumer healthcare experience. A seasoned tech innovator and entrepreneur, Mike has a storied history of disrupting industries—from working alongside Elon Musk on early jet propulsion designs to co-founding Kobo, which challenged the global e-reading market. Now, he’s turning his sights...
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From the ICU to the Page: Nurse Author Tilda Shalof on Why Nurses Must Tell Their Stories
The Gritty Nurse
What happens when a nurse picks up a pen and refuses to stay quiet? She becomes Tilda Shalof — ICU nurse, bestselling author, patient advocate, and one of Canada's most powerful voices for the nursing profession. In this episode of The Gritty Nurse Podcast, host Amie Archibald-Varley sits down with Tilda Shalof, RN, BScN, CNCC(C), a veteran nurse from Toronto General Hospital's Medical-Surgical ICU and the author of six books — including the acclaimed A Nurse's Story, The Making of a Nurse, Camp Nurse, Opening My Heart, Lives in the Balance, and Bringing It Home. Her work has been...
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What Nurses Don't Know About the Law Could Cost Them Everything w/ Dr. Cambria Nwsou DNP, RN, LNC
The Gritty Nurse
Do you actually know your rights as a nurse? What does it take to go from the operating room to the courtroom — and why should every nurse care? In this episode of The Gritty Nurse Podcast, host Amie Archibald-Varley sits down with the remarkable Dr. Cambria Nwosu, RN — a nurse whose career has taken her from high-stakes surgical suites to the frontlines of legal nursing consulting and healthcare policy advocacy. Cambria's story is a masterclass in what's possible when nurses refuse to stay in their lane. Amie and Cambria dig into the real, often unspoken truth that nurses...
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Let’s Talk About Birth, Disparities, and Shifting the System: With Mama Nurse Tina!
The Gritty Nurse
Women’s health needs a ton of work, and it is a hill we are willing to die on. In this powerful episode of The Gritty Nurse Podcast, host Amie Archibald-Varley sits down with Tina Bitangcol—widely known as Mama Nurse Tina—for an urgent, unfiltered conversation about the realities of women’s healthcare, maternal mortality, and systemic disparities. From navigating birth trauma and postpartum complications to addressing the critical gaps in Indigenous health and cultural competence, Amie and Tina shed light on the untold stories of the healthcare system. Together, they discuss how we can...
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Exposing The Barriers: Why Are Nurse Practitioners Not Practicing To Their Full Scope in Canada? Discussions with CEO of NPAO Dr. Michelle Acorn
The Gritty Nurse
In this urgent episode, host Amie Archibald-Varley sits down with Dr. Michelle Acorn, CEO of the Nurse Practitioners' Association of Ontario (NPAO), to rip the band-aid off a system that refuses to evolve. Dr. Acorn pulls no punches: Nurse Practitioners are trained, capable, and ready — and they're being held back by outdated policy, inadequate funding, and a government content to watch the primary care crisis deepen rather than act. What you'll hear in this episode: The full scope of what Ontario's inaction actually means for patients on the ground Why NPs remain one of the most...
info_outlineWhat does it mean to lead a movement? Michael Hurley, a veteran advocate and President of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU/CUPE), joins Amie Archibald-Varley, The Gritty Nurse to discuss the grit required to protect the healthcare workforce.
In this high-stakes episode, we pull back the curtain on what it truly takes to fight for frontline workers. Michael emphasizes that the current crisis in recruitment and retention isn’t an accident—it’s a policy failure. He highlights his work on the front lines of union leadership, focusing on the necessity of staffing ratios and the urgent fight to end violence against staff. From the history of illegal strikes to the modern-day battle against privatization, Michael illustrates how his work as Union President is centered on one goal: empowering workers to reclaim their profession through community mobilization and bold, collective action. Michael shares his transformative journey from healthcare worker to a fearless union leader, revealing why sometimes the most effective path to change requires the courage to take collective action.
Michael breaks down the front-line battles he leads every day, including:
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The Blueprint for Staffing: Why mandated ratios are the only cure for a collapsing system.
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Holding the Line: Michael’s fierce advocacy against the quiet creep of healthcare privatization.
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Safety as a Right: Addressing the "silent epidemic" of violence against healthcare workers and the legislative teeth needed to stop it.
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The Power of the Union: How Michael mobilizes communities to turn individual frustration into unstoppable collective power.
This is a masterclass in advocacy for any nurse who has ever felt unheard.
WHY ONTARIO NEEDS SAFE NURSE STAFFING LEVELS (OCHU Report)
https://ochu.on.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Safe-nurse-staffing-Report_ENG_Final_WEB.pdf
More about Micheal Hurley
Michael Hurley has been a hospital worker and a CUPE member since 1977. He was fired and convicted of contempt of court during the illegal 1981 Ontario hospital strike.
He has been the President of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions since 1990. He is also the first Vice-President of CUPE Ontario as well as Regional Vice-President on CUPE’s National Executive Board for Ontario.
He is the proud father of two daughters.
https://cupe.ca/michael-hurley-regional-vice-president-ontario
About Ontario Council of Hospital Union (OCHU)
OCHU was founded in 1982 following a very difficult hospital strike and forced arbitration decisions that were unfair to CUPE members.
The seven CUPE regions and CUPE staff worked on a plan to improve the bargaining process, communications with members and locals, and the coordination between regions. They also recognized the need for the existence of a permanent decision-making authority between collective agreements.
The plan developed was received favourably by all locals and led to the founding of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions.
About CUPE
We’ve been together for over 50 years.
We do different jobs that require different skills. We are diverse – from all sorts of backgrounds in all corners of the country. But we’re connected by a common purpose. Together we’ve fought for the things that matter most.
Fairness. Equality. Dignity.
There’s still much to be done before we have a truly just society. Empowering young workers, women’s rights, racial equality, dignity for the disabled, as well as justice for First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples.
We have made Canada a better place for millions of workers and their families. We will keep fighting for a Canada where ALL workers have a decent wage, retirement security, dignity and a safe workplace.
As we move forward, we are undertaking an unprecedented initiative to speak with every rank and file member in order to re-create our movement.
We are 800,000 public service workers. We will back each other up. We will speak with one voice.
We are CUPE.
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