Nurses Rally On Anniversary of 1988 Strike

Alberta Nurses Held Rally at City Hall On Saturday

The UNA (United Nurses of Alberta)  held rallies across Alberta to advocate for support for “safe staffing, safe patient care, and public health care and call for respect for frontline health care workers.”

Kelly Allard spoke with two of the nurses on the information picket line - Megan Eggin and Donna Bitz. They expressed concern about short-staffing, patient load, patients waiting for days in the ER to get a hospital bed, burnout, etc. Nurses are concerned about patients slipping through the cracks, concerns were voiced about rural ER closing because they did not have the staff to keep them open.

There are also concerns with nurse attraction and retention - nurses can work anywhere they choose and right now they are not choosing Alberta.

This rally comes on the anniversary of the 1988 strike.

Megan Eggins and Donna Bitz speak about why they are rallying.

Alberta nurses have been in negotiations for nearly a year.

Representatives from AUPE and CUPE attended to show support.