UNA members send strong message: It’s in everyone’s interest to get back to the table as soon as possible

For immediate release: Thursday, October 31, 2024

United Nurses of Alberta hopes to return to the negotiating table quickly to find ways to make up for the losses suffered by Alberta’s nurses over the past several years.

UNA members throughout Alberta voted yesterday to reject a Mediator’s Recommendation for a new Provincial Collective Agreement.

“This was clearly a vote on whether or not Alberta nurses feel respected,” UNA President Heather Smith said this morning after the vote results were published. “The membership obviously did not feel respected by this recommended agreement.”

She said the province’s major health care employers and the provincial government are going to have to recognize this reality and it is in everyone’s interest to get back to the table as soon as possible and make up for the ground that has been lost by nurses.

“Through the pandemic, inflation over the past several years, and the upheaval in health care, Alberta’s nurses have experienced both tangible and intangible losses,” Smith said. “They spoke clearly yesterday that they expect this to be put right.”

In yesterday’s vote, 75.23 per cent of the more than 30,000 members that come under the Provincial Collective Agreement and members from 100 per cent of the affected locals voted on the Mediator’s Recommendation.

Of the total voting members, more than 61 per cent voted no, while just under 39 per cent voted yes. The Mediator’s Recommendations are therefore rejected.

“We will contact the employers immediately to discuss the next steps,” said David Harrigan, UNA’s director of labour relations and chief negotiator. “We will share more information about the next steps in the negotiating process as soon as possible.”

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