For immediate release: 21 October 2011
Top Wisconsin union official to participate in United Nurses of Alberta AGM
EDMONTON - The Secretary-Treasurer of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO will be among the speakers who will address members of the United Nurses of Alberta at their 34th Annual General Meeting in Edmonton on October 25, 26 and 27.
Stephanie Bloomingdale will take part in a panel discussion at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, October 26, on the current attack on unions by right-wing groups and what unions ought to do about it. Earlier this year, Wisconsin saw one of the most determined and vicious legislative attacks on the rights of unionized working people in North America, prompting days of huge demonstrations in response.
The panel including Bloomingdale and Armine Yalnizyan of the Canadian Centre on Policy Alternatives, moderated by former Edmonton Journal managing editor Sheila Pratt, will consider where unions should go from here to protect their members and their rights.
UNA President Heather Smith will open the important three-day event, at which Alberta's nurses consider their union's policies and budgets for the year ahead, on Tuesday, October 25, with an address to the more than 800 delegates.
Other speakers at the important three-day event will include former Alberta Liberal leader Kevin Taft, who will discuss his upcoming academic work on Alberta's failure to collect fair corporate taxes, and Alberta Federation of Labour President Gil McGowan. On Tuesday morning, well-known author, lawyer and medical law scholar Maureen McTeer will bring greetings from the Canadian Nurses Association's National Expert Commission on Health Care. McTeer is also known as the spouse of Joe Clark, Canada's 16th prime minister.
UNA represents more than 25,000 Registered Nurses, Registered Psychiatric Nurses and allied health care workers throughout Alberta.
UNA will assist journalists who would like to arrange interviews with UNA officers or AGM participants.
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For more information, contact:
Heather Smith, President
United Nurses of Alberta
780-425-1025
David Cournoyer
Communications Officer
United Nurses of Alberta
Office: 780-425-1025
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