Rallies by hospital workers were held across Ontario on Wednesday including in North Bay at the regional health centre.

CUPE spokesperson Jennifer Barnett says negotiations on a new contract are resuming this weekend and they wanted to show the hospitals they’re serious about getting a fair deal.

She says they want a modest wage increase and they want the hospitals to stop asking for concessions.

“The hospital workers have been hit pretty hard in the last couple of years with respect to cuts, layoffs and bed shortages. To add any more concessions to them is a hardship,” she says.

She says all they’re asking for is the same that their fellow employees have been offered by the hospitals.

Barnett says their campaign is all about respect.

“We’re asking hospitals to respect their workers, to have respectful, safe, healthy workplaces and to have healthy, respectful bargaining,” Barnett says.