

Article content
Nurses across Alberta rallied together Saturday with supporters to hold a “Day of Action” to support safe staffing, patient care and calling for respect for frontline health care professionals.
Members of the United Nurses of Alberta (UNA) a union representing over 35,000 nurses across the province are holding information pickets, rallies and winter-themed events outside of their work sites on Saturday. The Day of Action is the anniversary of the beginning of the UNA’s 1988 nurses’ strike which saw more than 14,000 nurses at hospitals across Alberta walk off the job, marking the last provincewide strike by UNA members.
Advertisement 2
Article content
According to a press release from the UNA, 13 events were planned across Alberta, including two in Edmonton — one at the Edmonton General Continuing Care Centre and the second at the St. Joseph’s Auxiliary Hospital. Other locations include Calgary, Banff, Bonnyville, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Olds, Red Deer, St. Albert, Slave Lake and Two Hills.
In October, union members rejected a mediator’s recommended contract settlement, which recommended pay increases between 12 and 22 per cent over four years, with additional hikes to some pay premiums.
The union has been seeking 30 per cent pay increases over two years.
In a press release in October, UNA president Heather Smith said the vote was about whether or not nurses felt respected.
David Harrigan, UNA’s chief negotiator, said the recommendations made were not viewed as fair and that the wage elements did not meet member expectations, according to an update posted by the UNA on Thursday.
A new round of mediation began Thursday, with a new mediator agreed upon by the province and the union.
“Nurses are feeling really overworked, undervalued and really dissatisfied because they’re not able to do the type of care that they were trained to do,” said UNA second vice-president Karen Kuprys.
Article content
Advertisement 3
Article content
Members are also opposed to the province’s decision to dismantle Alberta Health Services, she added, as it adds more instability and uncertainty. “It’s not the most effective way to spread out resources and certainly the privatization angle of it is costing us Alberta taxpayers more and oftentimes, for less.
“In a time when other provinces are trying to integrate their systems to make it more seamless, our government is doing the exact opposite,” she added.
A strike, she said, would be the last resort.
“I can’t speak for all members, but there’s certainly a high level of frustration,” she said. “We are truly hoping for a negotiated settlement.”
The strike of ’88 — a defining year
According to the UNA’s website, on Jan. 25, 1988, thousands of nurses walked off the job. At the time, it marked the fourth strike by nurses represented by the UNA and the first-ever strike by nurses employed at the three Crown Hospitals — Foothills Hospital, Alberta’s Children Hospital and the Glenrose Hospital.
UNA began negotiations in 1987 with hospital employers, who demanded massive takeaways and rollbacks, ultimately leading to members voting to strike, despite employers attempting to persuade the Alberta Labour Relations Board to charge the union with bargaining in bad faith to stop members from voting.
Advertisement 4
Article content
“Individual nurses were also threatened with discipline, including termination, if they did not return to work immediately. Undeterred by the threats, nurses insisted they would walk the picket lines until they secured a fair negotiated collective agreement,” the website said.
The UNA had to pay approximately $426,750 in fines throughout the strike period.
Eventually a settlement was reached on Feb. 12, 1988, and nurses returned to work the following day after accepting the latest improved offer.
“The results of the 1988 strike were not immediately evident in the negotiated settlement, because the most important victory was forcing the employer to remove the takeaways from the table. The 1988 strike set the stage for UNA to make significant gains for nurses in the 1990 contract negotiations. This strike helped define UNA members as a force that would not hesitate take a stand for positive change in our health care system,” the website said.
— With files from Devika Desai
[email protected]
X: @kccindytran
Recommended from Editorial
-
Alberta nurses union has applied for formal mediation
-
Alberta nurses vote to reject mediator’s recommended settlement
Article content
link