PrintAlberta nurses launch campaign resisting UCP plan to cut thousands of nursing and health care jobs
EDMONTON — In the wake of Alberta’s provincial budget, United Nurses of Alberta is pushing forward with a campaign against the government’s proposed cuts to nursing and health care jobs.
Newspaper ads reminding Albertans that “every day, Alberta’s nurses are there for the people of this province” and asking why the Alberta government is still planning to eliminate the jobs of nurses and other health care workers will begin appearing in Alberta newspapers today.
The full-page advertisements are part of United Nurses of Alberta’s ongoing campaign to mobilize Albertans to resist the United Conservative Party Government’s plan to eliminate more than 11,000 health care workers jobs, including at least 750 jobs currently held by Registered Nurses and Registered Psychiatric Nurses.
"Despite the recent statements by Premier Jason Kenney and Health Minister Tyler Shandro claiming they are making a 'historic investment' in health care, they were clear they still plan to move forward with these cuts,” said Heather Smith, President of the United Nurses of Alberta. “Health care is too important to Albertans for us to do nothing.”
UNA’s advertisements ask Albertans to sign an open letter to Kenney and Shandro calling on them to save the lives of Albertans by reversing the planned cuts to nurses’ and other front-line health care workers’ jobs.
Nurses have been called heroes by the government for their brave work during the COVID-19 pandemic. The advertisement asks: ‘Are mass layoffs the way you reward the workers who put their lives on the line for Alberta?’
"We've already had more than 18,000 Albertans, including thousands of nurses and health care workers, sign the letter showing their support," said Smith.
The advertisement runs today in the Calgary Herald and Edmonton Journal and will appear in several community newspapers across the province this Thursday, Friday and next Wednesday, March 17.
More information and an opportunity to add your name to the letter is found at NeedNurses.ca.
Copy of the newspaper ad
