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By Josh Hall/RDnewsnow

"DEPLETED WORKFORCE"

United Nurses of Alberta president questions rollback rationale

Jul 8, 2021 | 10:21 AM

The president of the United Nurses of Alberta (UNA) questions what rationale the UCP government is using to antagonize an, “already exhausted and emotionally depleted workforce.”

That workforce includes almost 1,000 nurses at Red Deer Regional Hospital and approximately 3,000 in AHS’ Central Zone.

Heather Smith alludes to Finance Minister Travis Toews’s announcement Tuesday that the government wants nurses to take a three per cent wage rollback in collective bargaining.

“Do they want job action,” Smith questions.

The UNA has been bargaining for a new contract since January 2020, with a four-year proposal initially put to them, including zero per cent increases each year.

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Toews said Tuesday that while the work of nurses during the pandemic is “deeply respected,” the province’s fiscal reality calls for cuts to be made.

Toews also noted nurses make 5.6 per cent more than their counterparts in other large provinces.

“We’re very much on par with Saskatchewan which negotiated an agreement (through 2024) with nurses during COVID that included increases,” Smith says.

A Jan. 2020 report by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation shows among public sector salaries, a 5.6 per cent difference doesn’t come close to many other occupations.

The report indicates a government-paid deputy clerk makes 27.4 per cent more than the best comparators. One must get through 30 other career types in the report before seeing a 5.6 per cent difference.

According to the current agreement, Alberta nurses’ base salaries range from $70,825 to $92,942, non-inclusive of overtime.

“No doubt this is intended to further undermine public confidence in public healthcare. We have huge staffing shortages intentionally created, and that is why we’ve seen closures at the Galahad Care Centre, closure of beds in Elk Point, Rocky Mountain House, Cold Lake and St. Paul, and it’s why emergency departments are closing on weekends in some places,” Smith says.

“Now they add gasoline on the fire in terms of further insulting a workforce. The last time I experienced this kind of thing was in 1988 when we had an acknowledged staffing shortage across the province and the employers of the day came to the table with rollbacks, resulting in a 19-day illegal strike.”

Smith says several procedural steps are required before nurses could vote to legally strike, with many members asking when that will be.

This latest revelation is likely to push more nurses out of the province or into retirement, she says, exacerbating the existing shortage.

“Many nurses have spent many years working above their FTE, and doing forced labour through mandatory overtime,” she says.

“We have a revenue problem in this province and this government seems to think it should be dealt with on the backs of public sector workers. It won’t be addressed by asking healthcare and government workers to take rollbacks while at the same time we have money for a refinery agreement.”

The opposition NDP responded Tuesday, saying Toews’s announcement will only further the betrayal healthcare workers feel, and that it defies common-sense.

With bargaining scheduled for Thursday, rdnewsNOW contacted Toews’s office for further comment given reaction from the UNA.

In a statement, Toews’s senior press secretary, Kassandra Kitz, says the government was elected on a promise to get its fiscal house in order and balance the budget, which means bringing spending in line with other provinces.

“Alberta was seeing high levels of debt and deficits prior to 2019, which yes, have been compounded by the largest global economic recession since the great depression, an unprecedented drop in oil prices, and the COVID-19 pandemic,” says Kitz.

“In an effort to meet budgetary challenges, Premier Jason Kenney has reduced his salary by 10 per cent and MLAs and cabinet ministers have reduced their salaries by five per cent. This comes in addition to a 2015 reduction of five per cent for MLAs announced by the late Jim Prentice, and after a five-year freeze on legislative salaries. Further, senior political staff in government recently took a seven per cent pay reduction. Not to mention the other sectors in the province who have unfortunately had to lay-off their employees, with 8.7 per cent of Albertans currently out of work.”

Kits adds that Alberta needs to find labour efficiencies, either by reducing the compensation rate, or by reducing the number of positions, which is why the government is offering nurses job security in exchange for a modest decrease in compensation.

“It’s the most fair and reasonable offer,” she says, but Smith isn’t buying any of it.

“Why this intentional alienation of a workforce that has gone above and beyond, suffered physical and emotional exhaustion? What reason does the government have?”

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