Janis Irwin (left), Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood MLA, and critic for women's and LGBTQ2S+ issues, attended to support the crowd outside Red Deer Regional Hospital protesting a proposed pay cut for nurses on Aug. 11, 2021. (rdnewsNOW/Jordan Davidson)

By Jordan Davidson and Josh Hall

day of action

Nurses union at Red Deer rally: “We’re going to put up a fight”

Aug 11, 2021 | 5:14 PM

United Nurses of Alberta (UNA) members were joined by supporters throughout the province on Wednesday to express displeasure with what they call the UCP’s “attack on nurses.”

More than 25 health care worksites across Alberta, including Red Deer Regional Hospital (RDRH), are where ralliers showed up around the lunch hour.

Chris Gregg, a Red Deer resident, showed up to give nurses red roses.

“We are in support of the nurses, and we believe what the nurses have done for us through this pandemic has been amazing. A friend runs this flower company and she’s also an LPN (Licensed Practical Nurse),” Gregg explained. “She teaches LPNs, and she was running a seniors center through this pandemic. The nurses were here for us, so we should be here for the nurses. I just wanted to thank them.”

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Cameron Westhead, UNA second vice-president, told rdnewsNOW that health care workers who’ve been on the front lines for 18 months don’t feel their vital work is being respected.

“Back in January 2020, we exchanged proposals with the government, and the proposals at the time from the government were pretty bad, even then. Fast forward to now, after the pandemic, the government has increased their insulting offer to ask us for a five per cent wage rollback,” said Westhead.

“Nurses are here to say we’re not going to take it. We feel like we are worth more after the pandemic than before, so it’s pretty insulting to us to be told by the government that we are worth less.”

NDP critic for women’s and LGBTQ2S+ issues, MLA Janis Irwin, also travelled to Red Deer to stand in solidarity with nurses.

“Despite what Jason Kenney might tell you, we are still in the pandemic. This is a government led by Jason Kenney and the UCP who have continued to attack health care workers, have continued to undermine their collective bargaining rights, and have continued to dismantle our public health care system,” she remarked.

Irwin continued, calling cuts to health care, “repugnant.”

She told nurses they should know there are, “folks in the legislature who are standing up for them.”

Supporters from other unions also attended, including the Union of Healthcare Professionals and UNIFOR, which represents numerous sectors.

(rdnewsNOW/Jordan Davidson)

Friends of Medicare issued a statement Wednesday morning, Executive Director Sandra Azocar emphasizing that front-line health care workers have literally put their lives at risk during the pandemic.

“After a year and a half, health care workers are exhausted, and now they’re handed a pay cut?” Azocar questioned. “The government is making it extremely clear how little they value not only our vital health care workers, but all the Albertans who depend on the care those workers provide.”

UCP Finance Minister Travis Toews issued a statement as well, reiterating his previous stance, that while the government appreciates the hard work and dedication of health care professionals, restoring Alberta’s fiscal health trumps maintaining wages.

“We know the appreciation and respect for health care workers runs deep and wide throughout the province,” said Toews. “As bargaining continues, my hope is that unions and their employers can quickly come to a settlement that works for everyone, and is aligned with the fiscal realities we are facing.”

Toews received support from Franco Terrazzano of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, who urged Toews and Premier Jason Kenney to “continue standing up for taxpayers by reducing government employee pay.”

“Kenney is right to stand up for taxpayers and push government employees to help shoulder the burden of the downturn,” said Terrazzano, CTF federal director, in an email. “It’s not fair to ask families struggling through years of pay cuts and job losses to pay higher taxes because government union bosses aren’t willing to share in the burden and take a cut.”

The UNA’s Westhead isn’t having it.

“We are short-staffed, we are burned out, the health minister is blaming us for the bed shortages and not taking any responsibility for himself,” he concluded. “(This government) went to war with doctors early on in the pandemic and they didn’t learn a lesson from that, it didn’t go well for them, and now they are picking a fight with nurses, and we are going to put up a fight.”

After supporters walked around the hospital, they proceeded down the street UCP MLA Jason Stephan’s office, where protestors have recently staged daily protests against health care cuts and other matters.