98% of AUPE nursing care staff vote in favour of strike
CBC
Nursing care staff represented by the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees have voted 98 per cent in favour of strike action.
The vote took place between Oct. 30 and Nov. 3. The union says 11,031 members cast a ballot.
"They voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action because they are fed up with stagnant wages and unsafe working conditions that hurt workers, patients, and Alberta's public health care system," AUPE president Sandra Azocar said at a news conference in Edmonton Wednesday.
AUPE says talks with its employer, Alberta Health Services and the four organizations that replaced the former provincial health authority, broke down in April. Bargaining between the sides are set to resume Thursday for mediation.
The 16,000 members, who are mostly licensed practical nurses and health care aides, could serve strike notice as early as Nov. 17.
"Our members would rather do their jobs, but they are prepared to stand up for what they deserve and to take job action if necessary," Azocar said.
Potential job action by AUPE nursing care staff comes after teachers represented by the Alberta Teachers' Association walked off the job for three weeks before they were ordered back to work by provincial legislation. The ATA had a strike mandate of about 95 per cent.
Nate Horner, Alberta finance minister and president of the treasury board, said in a news release that he was disappointed by the strike vote.
He said the government is offering a 12 per cent wage increase over four years.
"This is a fair, competitive deal, in line with more than 87 other negotiated settlements across the public sector," Horner said.
Horner said AUPE wants LPNs paid the same as registered nurses, with salary increases ranging from 40 to 55 per cent. Horner said union negotiators also want lower annual hours of work. He said the overall proposal would cost more than $2 billion.
"While LPNs play a critical role, a key consideration that must be considered is the fact that they do not have the same education or extensive scope of practice as RNs," Horner said.
Kate Robinson, the lead negotiator for the AUPE team, said LPNs scope of practice is 84 per cent of the duties performed by registered nurses but they are paid about 67 per cent of what RNs earn. In comparison, Manitoba pays its LPNs 81 per cent of what an RN earns.
Robinson said Alberta RNs are now the highest paid in Canada but LPN wages put them in seventh place.
As his flight departed from Amsterdam's Schiphol airport en route to Kuwait via Istanbul, Canadian crypto fugitive Andean Medjedovic was unaware that his globe-trotting lifestyle would soon be halted.
One of the largest taxi companies in Toronto will be down to three wheelchair-accessible cabs by the end of March, as advocates and providers say the city is failing to support accessible taxi drivers.
As a deep freeze continues to envelop southwestern Ontario at the same time municipalities deal with a pressing shortage of road salt, there's a renewed focus on finding different ways to melt road ice.
Dave Lawson is a proud Canadian who has bumper stickers that say "Canada is not for sale." He's fed up with grocery products plastered with maple leaves and patriotic logos that turn out to be American imports.
The Town of Badger has issued an evacuation order for some residents as water levels on the Exploits River continue to rise.
The head of a national seniors' advocacy organization says protecting nursing home residents from sexual abuse is an important but challenging issue.
New data shows Winnipeg's fire-paramedic service fielded hundreds of reports involving the city's homeless population, but one advocate says she expects that number to go down in light of the city's limits on where encampments can be.
Former students of the Île-à-la-Crosse Boarding School have reached a settlement in their lawsuit against the federal government.
Missing baby presumed dead after father charged with killing mother in St. Albert, Alta., police say
A man is facing charges in the death of a young mother in the Edmonton area and the presumed death of their missing nine-month-old daughter.
A school trustee in Prince George, B.C., says she's shaken and scared after being surrounded by police with their guns drawn and then put in handcuffs, in what RCMP say was a case of mistaken identity.
Despite an eleventh hour attempt to secure at least a few more weeks of freedom, a Calgary dentist was handed a three-year prison sentence for a decade-long insurance billing fraud.
Canada Computers & Electronics says a data breach has leaked information about some of its customers, though several say they are unhappy with the scant details the retailer has provided — including how many of them were affected, and when the breach occurred.
The city of Toronto is shutting down a yacht club on the Humber River in Etobicoke that is accused of having negative impacts on the local ecosystem.