By Kass Patterson, My Lethbridge Now Staff
Care facilities and hospitals across Alberta will be reduced to essential service levels for licensed practical nurses and nursing aides starting Saturday morning due to strike action.
Alberta Union of Provincial Employees president Sandra Azocar said Wednesday the AUPE formally served a 72-hour strike notice for the 16,000 nursing care members it represents earlier that morning. She said that starting at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, nursing care members across the province will be on the picket lines.
“Today we once again lead the way as our union enters into the largest legal ESA strike in Alberta’s history. Today we stand together in unprecedented unity and solidarity,” Azocar said. “When workers take this step they bring not only themselves to the picket line but also the well-being of their families. No one chooses this lightly. But we reached a point where we had no choice.”
Azocar said the decision to strike was not made lightly. She said the bargaining team entered the talks hoping for a fair agreement, adding every path was exhausted before the strike decision. Priorities for nursing care members included wages that reflect Alberta’s affordability crisis and recognition of the essential work LPNs and HCAs provide to the health-care system.
Lead negotiator Kate Robinson said LPNs and health-care aides remain roughly nine per cent apart on wages.
Robinson said the strike will not be business as usual for the health-care system. LPNs and HCAs will operate under an essential services agreement, which deems 78 per cent of members as essential to ensure the life and safety of Albertans. Members not deemed essential will join the picket line.
“This is already a system that’s under crisis. It’s already a system that is so short-staffed. It’s an issue that we’ve been trying to raise for years now and so this is going to have an impact,” Robinson said. “We’ve already heard that some elective surgeries will be cancelled and our members work in every sector of our health-care system. They provide rehab care, mental health support, psychiatric aid, client care assistance, physiotherapy assistance, operating room technicians, orthopedic technicians, personal support coordination. So every single aspect of our health-care system will be impacted by this.”
Ninety-eight per cent of AUPE nursing staff voted in favour of strike action at the start of the month.
Alberta Finance Minister Nate Horner has issued a statement in response to the official strike notice. He said the province has been clear from the start that it hoped the AUPE and Alberta Health Services would reach an agreement. Horner said the government values the work licensed practical nurses and health-care aides provide.
“The AUPE was offered a fair and reasonable deal that was highly competitive with the other provinces across Canada,” Horner said. “AHS will be communicating further on which non-essential services will be affected by the strike in the coming days.”
“To be clear, Alberta’s government is committed to working with AHS and AUPE to explore any and all options and interventions available. Our goal is to resolve these negotiations and avoid unnecessary disruptions to health-care services.”
Horner said the government is encouraging both AHS and AUPE to return to the bargaining table, with the goal of reaching an agreement that is fair for workers and taxpayers, and supports stability in the health-care system.
