All Out to Support Health Care Workers!
Nurses join community members in a rally for safe
staffing and
safe care outside a United Conservative Party members
only
townhall in Rocky Mountain House, September 26
2024.
Alberta has a rapidly expanding population, growing by 204,677 from April 1, 2023 to April 1, 2024 alone, for a total population of 4,849,906. Even to meet the woefully inadequate Canadian average ratio of nurses to population would require an additional 2,278 nurses, just to maintain the unsustainable status quo. But instead, according to Statistics Canada 20,000 health care workers left the province during that same period. Nurses and other health care workers are currently in negotiations.
United Nurses of Alberta (UNA) Chief Negotiator David Harrigan said that some people may consider the wage demands of Alberta's nurses, who are demanding a 25 per cent increase in the first year of their contract, to be outrageous. What is outrageous, he said, is closing units or entire hospitals and making nurses work around the clock. "They've abused and ignored the system for many years and when you do that there needs to be a giant catch-up in order to set things straight again," Harrigan said.
What is also outrageous is the government's response to closed units. Instead of listening to the nurses and implementing their call to "Recruit, Retain and Respect," Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said she would use "fear and competition," handing over the management of rural hospitals which have been forced to temporarily close their emergency departments for lack of staff to unnamed entities. This announcement has been denounced from one end of the province to the other.
Rally for safe staffing and care, Rocky Mountain House,
September 26, 2024
Nurses are speaking in their own name about their conditions. UNA has posted many videos, which can be viewed on the union's Facebook page, in which nurses speak from the heart about the conditions they face. They say that bedside nurses are saying, "I don't think I can do this much longer." Nurses are asking, "Who is going to look after the patients if everyone is burned out?" They explain that the system is relying on staff, those who are already burned out from working short-staffed, to pick up more and more shifts, that more mistakes are made when people are overworked and when they don't have time to provide adequate care. They emphasize that safe staffing saves lives and warn that young people will stop going into nursing because of these conditions and that nursing shortages are a worldwide problem which must be addressed now.
Alberta Medical Association President Dr. Paul Parks is also speaking out about the severe staffing shortage. "In any of the main emergency departments in the province, we're regularly functioning with only 80 per cent of our nursing staffing that we need," he said.
Nurses are determined in their fight for the working conditions they need, which are the care conditions of their patients. They are in no mood to back down and accept the abuse of a government which responds to the concerns of the health care workers, who are on the frontlines and know what is required, by creating more chaos, privatizing more services, and causing even more acute staffing shortages in the hospitals, all to serve rich private interests.
UNA held a town hall with Local Executives to discuss strike preparation, and has prepared the UNA Strike Manual. In preparation for possible job action, an Essential Services Agreement has been negotiated. Essential Services legislation was enacted in 2015 following a Supreme Court decision which found that outlawing all strikes in the public services was unconstitutional. Under the legislation the union and employer have to agree on the "essential" level of staffing that will be provided during a strike.
Informal mediation is now taking place on a "without prejudice" basis, which means that if no agreement is reached, both parties return to their positions of July 11, 2024. UNA announced on September 20 that a one day Reporting Meeting for about 600-700 delegates has been called for October 10 to provide a bargaining report to the locals. UNA explains, "The report could entail (1) We have a tentative agreement, (2) We have a mediator's recommendation, or (3) we have reached impasse and will not be able to achieve any further movement without job action. The delegates then discuss and provide direction to the Negotiating Committee on next steps, which could be to hold a ratification vote or to proceed with steps necessary to hold a strike vote."
Health care support workers and licensed practical nurses represented by the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) are also speaking out, organizing and taking action. AUPE has 82,000 members whose contracts have expired this year and are now in negotiations. Spirited rallies were held on September 7 in Calgary, Edmonton and Red Deer where members of AUPE were joined by supporters including workers from other unions. The rallies were the culmination of summer long actions, more than 50 pickets and rallies across the province. Health care workers represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees also held a lively rally in Edmonton on September 14 to say Enough is Enough! Their Day of Action shone a light on the critical issues of low wages, staffing shortages, and the privatization agenda being pursued by the UCP government, all of which have made the crisis in health care even more acute. Workers from other towns and cities, as well as workers from other unions and supporters joined local health care workers at the Edmonton rally. The message of the health care workers was: "We are united with our union siblings, friends, allies & community and we will win this fight and protect health care for every Albertan! Solidarity!"
CUPE rally in Edmonton, September 14, 2024
AUPE Northwest Region vice-president Sandra Azocar emphasized that AUPE has been telling the government to address the staffing shortage for decades, long before it reached the current acute crisis level, particularly in rural Alberta. To date none of the unacceptable conditions in long term care and assisted living facilities exposed during the COVID-19 pandemic have been corrected. In fact, Azocar said, conditions are getting worse.
AUPE has also launched a campaign called "Strike a Change for Alberta Seniors," including a petition and letter writing campaign. The petition calls for a standard of 4.5 hours of direct care per day for seniors in long term care, an increase of 2.5 hours from the current two hours of care per day, not nearly enough time to meet the need of frail seniors. To sign the petition, go to https://www.aupe.org/news-and-publications/campaigns/strike-change-alberta-seniors.
In negotiations, AUPE has proposed a three-year agreement with wage raises of 13 per cent in the first year, 6.5 per cent in the second year and 6.5 per cent in the third year. The union is also proposing a Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI), to protect workers from falling further behind inflation. AUPE is also finalizing an Essential Services Agreement which will be followed by formal mediation tentatively set for October, a requirement before a strike vote can be held.
Health care workers' wages and working conditions are the conditions of care for the people of Alberta. They are inseparable. Meeting the workers' demands will contribute to overcoming the crisis in health care. Consider for a moment a health care system where those who work and provide care for the people with such dedication under impossible conditions and know what is needed to turn the situation around were the decision-makers, together with their communities. It becomes immediately apparent that a thriving and vibrant health care system is possible. All out to support nurses and health care workers!
This article was published in
Volume 54 Numbers 8-9 - September 2024
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2024/Articles/MS54089.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca