Nurses picket outside Sturgeon Community Hospital: 'Looking for a fair contract'
Alberta's nurses union is drawing attention to the province's proposal to roll back nurses' wages by three per cent with an information picket at a St. Albert hospital.
By 6:30 a.m. Monday, about a dozen picketers had gathered outside the Sturgeon Community Hospital.
Among them was registered nurse and union local president Orissa Shima, whose sign around her neck read, "Willing to strike for a fair contract."
She said she and her colleagues wanted to let the public know they aren't prepared to take a wage cut after the pandemic, and are equal to a five per cent rollback when other proposed changes are factored in.
"We're being fed a narrative that it is us, the frontline heroes, that need to pay for bad government policy and government debt, like we haven't paid already with time away from our families, fear of catching COVID, and spreading COVID in the early months, moral injury, and burning out," Shima told CTV News Edmonton.
"What is a thank you when you're telling us we're worth less?" she asked. "It's a slap in the face, it's a punch in the gut, after all we've been through and given during this pandemic."
A week earlier, Alberta's finance minister said the proposal was part of work to get the province's finances "back on track" and that nurses there make 5.6 per cent more than their counterparts across the country.
According to Statistics Canada, nursing wages averaged $44.12 in June, the highest rate of the provinces but near B.C. and Saskatchewan's roughly $43 wages and Manitoba's $41.46 wages. Across Canada, the median was $39.72.
"That's part of the Alberta advantage," Shima said, noting Alberta workers see larger pay cheques in multiple sectors.
The government's proposal also includes eliminating semi-annual lump sum payments, reducing shift and weekend premiums, and removing charge nurse positions.
Both Shima and a nurse of 35 years called that last change dangerous.
"Things we were fighting for then," Sharon Lloyd commented, referencing the 1998 nurses strike she was a part of, "we are still fighting for now: patient safety, patient ratios, a nurse in charge on a unit. Yes, compensation is important. We don't want to be rolled back; we were rolled back in the 90s and we were rolled back for job security -- that's what they're saying now. That they'll roll us back for job security. And we don't believe them. We don't trust them anymore."
The government returns to the bargaining table with United Nurses of Alberta on Aug. 4 and 5.
Official Opposition and Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley has characterized the negotiations as "bad faith bargaining" that is driving workers to quit or find work outside Alberta.
The Alberta government has also proposed a four per cent rollback for hospital staff and, in 2020, announced a plan to lay off up to 11,000 Alberta Health Services jobs as a cost-savings measure.
With files from CTV News Edmonton's Nahreman Issa
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Widow looking for answers after Quebec man dies in Texas Ironman competition
The widow of a Quebec man who died competing in an Ironman competition is looking for answers.
Amid concerns over 'collateral damage' Trudeau, Freeland defend capital gains tax change
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
Wildfire southwest of Peace River spurs evacuation order
People living near a wildfire burning about 15 kilometres southwest of Peace River are being told to evacuate their homes.
World seeing near breakdown of international law amid wars in Gaza and Ukraine, Amnesty says
The world is seeing a near breakdown of international law amid flagrant rule-breaking in Gaza and Ukraine, multiplying armed conflicts, the rise of authoritarianism and huge rights violations in Sudan, Ethiopia and Myanmar, Amnesty International warned Wednesday as it published its annual report.
Train derailed in Sarnia after colliding with a truck
Police are investigating after a transport truck collided with a train in Sarnia.
Fewer medical students going into family medicine contributing to doctor shortage
As some family doctors are retiring and others are moving away from family medicine, there are fewer medical students to take their place.
'It's discriminatory': Individuals refused entry to Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
Individuals being barred from entering Ontario’s legislature while wearing a keffiyeh say the garment is part of their cultural identity— and the only ones making it political are the politicians banning it.
Bodies found by U.S. authorities searching for missing B.C. kayakers
United States authorities who have been searching for a pair of missing kayakers from British Columbia since the weekend have recovered two bodies in the nearby San Juan Islands of Washington state.