PrintLocal President and activist Susan Beatson honoured with UNA Bread & Roses Award
Susan Beatson, an experienced voice for nurses and nursing, was honoured with the 2025 UNA Bread & Roses Award on October 29 at UNA’s AGM.
UNA President Heather Smith recounted Beatson’s accomplishments during her 17 years as the President of Local 2 representing Registered Nurses and Registered Psychiatric Nurses at the Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre and Extendicare Michener.
The UNA members who nominated Beatson for the award described her as “the steady voice in chaos, the determined advocate who stands firm when others falter, and the compassionate leader who believes, without hesitation, that nurses deserve better, safer conditions, respect, and the right to be heard."
Through Beatson’s leadership, which embodies the soul of unionism, Local 2 achieved a historic agreement in the Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre, securing 11.7 FTE relief positions after years of pressure and persistence. That victory improved patient care and nurse morale.
"She refused to let cynicism or bureaucracy bury what was just,” wrote her nominators. “Today, she continues to lead the charge for reinstating base staffing to previously safe levels. She fights for proper triage coverage, for the inclusion of addictions and mental health nurses in the basic staffing model, and for an end to the normalization of hallway medicine through overcapacity spaces. Every demand she makes is rooted in a deep belief that we are not powerless and that nurses, united, can bend even the most rigid systems.”
“Sue has consistently and repeatedly fought the good fight and continues to see hope for the future,” they wrote. “She is a shining example of Heather Smith’s adage “never give up, never surrender.”
UNA's Bread & Roses Award is awarded annually to UNA members who demonstrate leadership, the true spirit of solidarity, unionism, and the advancement of social justice at the local, district or provincial level.
Bread & Roses Award recipients
2020: Karen Kuprys, Local 154 (Youville Home)
2021: Marie Corns, Local 80 (High River General Hospital)
2022: Orissa Shima, Local 85 (Sturgeon Community Hospital)
2023: Diane Lantz, Local 1 (Peter Lougheed Centre)
2024: Pauline Worsfold, Local 301 (University Hospital, Stollery Children's Hospital, Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute & Kaye Edmonton Clinic)
2025: Susan Beatson, Local 2 (Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre/Extendicare Michener)
