The Fight of Public Sector
Workers in Alberta
A Resounding No! to Demands for Massive Rollbacks and Wage Freeze for Alberta Nurses
Rally at University of Alberta hospital, January
25, 2020.
United Nurses of Alberta (UNA) reports that
negotiations began for a new Provincial
Collective Agreement between themselves and
Alberta Health Services (AHS) on January 15. The
AHS quickly tabled a host of "proposals"
attacking nurses' wages and conditions of work.
The AHS is demanding a four-year wage freeze for
nurses, who have not received an increase since
2016. UNA's opening proposal called for 2 per
cent pay increases in each of two years.
 Instead of
ending hiring freezes, filling vacant positions,
and ensuring adequate staffing to guarantee the
well-being of both patients and staff, the AHS
wants to eliminate designated days of rest for
part-time employees, be able to force part-time
employees to work up to full-time hours, cut
overtime rates, and move nurses around to
multiple work sites as they please. Other
proposals include eliminating premiums for
employees with bachelor's, master's or doctoral
degrees, slashing evening, night and weekend
premiums, and slowing advancement of employees
up the salary grid, which now takes nine years
to achieve the maximum pay grade.
The Kenney government has concocted something
called the "the Ontario-West Standard," intended
to divert people from the issue which is the
government's wrecking, by claiming that Alberta
is "spending too much" on health care compared
to other provinces. The aim is to divert from
the claims which people are laying for their
right to health care, and the right of the
workers who provide that care to wages and
working conditions commensurate with their work
and contribution to society. Although the AHS is
at the table the Kenney government is
controlling every move, not only of AHS but
every employer in the province who receives any
level of public funding, and has even made it
illegal for an employer to divulge the
instructions it has received from the
government.
These outrageous demands by the UCP government
are accompanied by threats of massive job losses
through privatization, and cuts to nursing jobs
across the province.
Nurses and other health care workers are
upholding their social responsibility when they
refuse to submit to this anti-social offensive
and use of arbitrary powers and dictate in place
of negotiations. The Canadian Nurses Association
points out that, "Global evidence links lower
nurse staffing and skill mix to adverse patient
outcomes such as increased mortality, falls,
infections and longer lengths of stay." The
anti-social offensive of the Kenney government,
if successful, would worsen already
unsustainable working conditions, and degrade
patient care.
As for "saving money" the intent of the Kenney
government is clear. As a government of the
financial oligarchy, its aim is not to provide
for the needs of the people of Alberta, but to
maximize the profits of the financial oligarchy.
This is why it has announced that it will
introduce more health care based on the motive
of private profit. In this way the wealth
created by the working people and claimed by
government is handed over to the rich. Also,
funding withdrawn from health care goes to pay
the rich.
UNA President Heather Smith gave a fitting
response. "The last time the employer proposed
rollbacks of this magnitude was in 1988, and we
all know what happened after that," she said.
Smith was referring to the last province-wide
strike of Alberta nurses which took place in
1988.[1]
One of the defining features of the 1988 strike
was the determination to uphold the principle
that nurses had a right to decide what wages and
working conditions were acceptable to them, a
stand which won massive public support.
Note
1. In 1988, more than
14,000 nurses at 98 hospitals across Alberta
went out on strike. The Alberta government had
made strikes in public health care facilities
illegal following the 1982 nurses' strike. For
nineteen days nurses stood as one to say No! to
rollbacks and concessions. The government
launched attack after attack to break their
resistance. Holding a strike vote was declared
an illegal act, UNA was charged with "criminal
contempt of court," and threatened with $1
million in fines, seizure of the union's assets,
and an end to dues collection. Individual nurses
were served with civil contempt of court
charges, fines, and threats of termination. In
the end UNA was forced to pay $424,000 in fines,
which it did through the support of the union
movement. But nurses stood firm, and when they
returned to work after 19 days their collective
agreement remained intact.
Rally during Alberta nurses strike which began
January 25, 1988.
This article was published in
Number 3 - January 29, 2020
Article Link:
The Fight of Public Sector
Workers in Alberta: A Resounding No! to Demands for Massive Rollbacks and Wage Freeze for Alberta Nurses
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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