January 22, 2007
Alberta’s health employers and
registered nurses begin negotiations
The United Nurses of Alberta (UNA) and Alberta’s Health Regions will begin negotiating a new contract on January 23, 2007. The current contract expires on March 31, 2007.
With 29 days of bargaining scheduled in just over two months, both parties are pledging to work hard to achieve a tentative agreement by the end of March.
“Alberta needs to expand our health system to meet the needs of our rapidly rising population,” says UNA President Heather Smith. “In these talks, it is crucial that both parties, ourselves and the employers, demonstrate leadership and create good employment conditions for good nursing jobs. We must retain the nurses we have and ensure that Alberta is the number one province in recruiting new nurses.”
Health employers and UNA will be working to address a number of significant issues such as quality patient/resident/client care, quality of work for nurses, retention of experienced nurses, patient safety and staffing issues.
“These important issues are a concern shared by employers, registered nurses and Albertans,” said Shannon Larkins, spokesperson for participating health employers. “Nurses are critical members of the healthcare team in our regions and we need to ensure they can continue to contribute throughout their careers.”
Further details about the progress of negotiations will only be released when the talks reach major decision points.
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For more information, please contact:
Heather Smith
President
United Nurses of Alberta
(780) 425-1025
Shannon Larkins
Spokesperson
Alberta's Health Regions
(780) 886-0595
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