A group of Licensed Practical Nurses rallied for changes outside of Lethbridge City Hall on Thursday, February 22, 2024. (Photo: Lethbridge News Now)

By David Opinko

Nurses rally for better pay, reclassification outside of Lethbridge City Hall

Feb 22, 2024 | 11:30 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – A group of Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs) in Lethbridge are advocating for changes.

They held a rally outside of city hall on Thursday, February 22, 2024, while nurses in other Alberta cities took part in demonstrations of their own.

Terry Wilton has been a practicing LPN in Lethbridge for the last five years and said their classification needs to change.

“Licensed Practical Nurses are still considered auxilliary nurses, which was an old term that came about a long time ago, which basically denotes us as assistants to Registered Nurses,” said Wilton.

He added, “At this point, the scope of practice is almost identical – most nurses can’t distinguish between the two in a hospital setting. I’m no longer an assistant, I’m my own functioning autonomous body doing actual direct nursing care.”

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The issue, explained LPN Treynae Tashiro, is that, while LPNs have been asked to do more and more work over the years, their pay has not kept up.

“It’s getting hard to be in this field of practice because the quality of it is just not the same as it was and we don’t get the recognition, so it’s harder to work hard and want to do better when there’s no incentive to do it,” said Tashiro.

According to the Government of Alberta, the average wage for LPNs in the province is $30.17 per hour or $48,364 per year. RNs, on the other hand, typically make around $46.21 per hour or $72,818 annually.

The group LPNs for Change has been advocating for LPNs to be reclassified as “direct care nursing,” which they argue would result in higher wages.

Wilton said he also wants LPNs to change unions from the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) to United Nurses of Alberta (UNA). He claimed that UNA has done a better job at advocating for RNs than AUPE has for LPNs.

Without these changes, Tashiro said it will be Albertans who will ultimately suffer.

“The unfortunate thing is, it’s going to effect our patients more than anybody else and that’s the hard part,” she said. “Yeah, sure, LPNs don’t get paid as much, but it’s going to be hard to get people into the LPN program and that’s where we’re going to fall quite a bit.”

The provincial government is set to unveil its new budget next week.

Wilton told LNN that he wants to see more money allocated to LPNs and for the government to reevaluate their position.

READ MORE: Alberta LPNs seek reclassification, union pushes back

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