An Alberta health-care union is fighting back against privatization, wage cuts, and unpaid sick days with a political cartoon campaign aimed at the province.
St. Albert resident Michael Hennig, who serves as an Edmonton district board member for the Health Sciences Association of Alberta, said the group plans to run political cartoons across Alberta to bring attention to big issues facing health-care workers.
For the past two years, health-care workers have been stretched thing, Hennig said.
“We are not seeing any appreciation or gratitude from this provincial government. It's disappointing. It’s very disappointing,” said Hennig.
The union, which represents 29,000 health-care workers across the province, with around 270 separate disciplines and front-line health-care workers, is hoping to show how underappreciated health-care workers are right now.
Paid sick leave for all employees is a priority for the union, and Hennig said the union wants to see the province adopt a policy similar to B.C.'s, where the B.C. government recently legislated a minimum of five paid, mandatory sick days for all workers.
Hennig said the union is also concerned with the scheduling and working conditions of emergency medical services staff, such as paramedics, who have been working hard throughout the pandemic.
Population growth coupled with an aging population has made working as a paramedic tough, Hennig said, and few resources have been added to support them over the past decade to keep up with the demands they face.
On top of that, the province has run paramedics off their feet, said Hennig, adding emergency medical services workers have been in trouble for a long time.
“[EMS workers and health-care staff] are all injured and hurt as well,” Hennig said. “There is not a lot left in the tank.”
Hennig said the union is also fighting against the privatization of health-care services, such as community lab services.
After battling a pandemic for the past two years, the union is now bargaining with the province, and facing big cuts in the early stages of contract negotiations.
Overall, the provincial government is looking to introduce wage rollbacks ranging from 0.28 per cent to 10.93 per cent for around 57 per cent of the union's members,
Pharmacy technicians are facing the biggest cuts, with a proposed rollback of 10.93 per cent, followed by social workers (10.90 per cent), speech language pathologists (8.69 per cent), respiratory therapists (8.5 per cent), occupational therapists (5.39 per cent), and pharmacists (five per cent). The smallest cut is proposed for advanced care paramedics, who are only facing 0.28 per cent.
Alberta Health Services’ proposal means health-care workers wouldn’t see a pay increase until April 1, 2023.
“We're hopeful at the bargaining table, but we expected to see a lot more gratitude and appreciation for the sacrifices that our union has made over the last few years,” said Hennig.
The union's proposal would see a nearly 15-per-cent increase in wages over four years, with 2.6 per cent retroactive to April 1, 2020; 4.2 per cent from April 1, 2021; 4.74 per cent from April 1, 2022; and a 3.6-per-cent increase on April 1, 2023.
The current collective agreement between the union and Alberta Health Services expired on March 31, 2020, but bargaining was put off due to the pandemic. The next bargaining meetings are expected to take place on March 29 and 30.
The political cartoons, which will help shed light on the struggles of health-care workers in the province, are set to run on social media and in some newspapers.
