Alberta unions worried about frontline health care

Over 100,000 health care workers in Alberta are heading into collective bargaining in 2024 as their agreements with Alberta Health Services are set to expire next year.

United Nurses of Alberta’s current contract with AHS, which was just settled last year, expires at the end of March. At ratification, it covered over 30,000 workers.

The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees settled their contract negotiations with AHS for their members working in auxiliary nursing care last May, and their contract for nearly 19,000 workers also expires in March.

AUPE’s contract for over 31,000 general support services workers employed by AHS was settled just a little over a year ago, in September 2022, and it also expires in March 2024.

Finally, The Health Sciences Association of Alberta, which represents paramedical technical, professional, and general support workers, only settled their contract with AHS last July for nearly 22,000 workers. It, too, expires in March.

According to a media release published on the UNA website and an email that HSAA sent to its members, AHS officials recently sent out letters to the bargaining units as part of “pre-bargaining disclosures”, which normally isn’t uncommon as bargaining approaches.

However, UNA and HSAA are concerned with the content in those letters and what that could mean for the more than 100,000 workers on the front line of health care in Alberta.

The UNA included the letter they received from Lee McEwen, AHS’s executive director of labour relations on their website. I’ve added a copy of that letter to the bottom of this article.

In his letter, McEwen reminds UNA that last month, the provincial government announces that they planned “to refocus the health care system in Alberta”.

As a result, AHS will be primarily responsible for acute care in the province. Any non-acute care services AHS currently provides will be transferred to one of 3 other new organizations the government plans to create: primary care, continuing care, and mental health and addiction.

McEwan anticipates that, as a result of this transition, “there will be some reductions in positions within UNA’s AHS bargaining unit flowing from the movement of functions outside of the organization.”

He further added that AHS plans to “consider all options available to meet our organizational needs through this process, including changes to staff mix and service redesign, contracting out, changes or repurposing of sites or relocating, and reducing or ceasing the provision of services”.

Finally, he indicated that “there may be other initiatives arising out of the identification of savings and efficiencies as part of AHS’ business as usual management and review of its operations”.

UNA President Heather Smith responded to these warnings with worry about how this messaging is going to affect an already overburdened workforce.

This kind of mixed messaging only makes it more difficult to retain the nurses already working in dangerously understaffed workplaces and makes it even harder to recruit new nurses to work in Alberta. This is the opposite kind of signal that AHS should be sending to nurses and health care workers right now.

The UNA statement went on to cite recent emergency department closures in rural hospitals throughout Alberta, primarily driven by staffing shortages.

HSAA didn’t provide copies of the letters they recieved in the message they sent out to their members, but they did express concern regarding similar wording as seen in the letter to the UNA.

For example, they highlighted language that spoke of “initiatives that have the potential to impact the workforce” and “some reductions in positions”.

HSAA is concerned that the statements made by AHS contradict with those given by government leaders.

These letters contradict assurances from the premier and health minister that there would be no front-line job losses or privatization because of the health-care restructuring and that there would be no impacts to collective bargaining.

According to HSAA’s email, Alberta’s health minister, Adriana LaGrange, “anticipates they will grow the number of front-line health workers, not reduce them”. They also reported she claimed while there may be a change in employer, “she doesn’t anticipate it will impact the vast majority of HSAA members”.

Given that there were nearly 22,000 HSAA members when they ratified their current collective agreement, AHS could lay off hundreds of HSAA workers and yet still keep the “vast majority” employed.

For example, AHS could lay off 1,000 HSAA workers and still be keeping over 95% of the rest.

AUPE has provided no statements regarding the letters sent out by AHS.