Year: 2005
Location: Edmonton
Profile: Sandie Rentz had a 35-year nursing career, mostly in Red Deer at the David Thompson Regional Hospital, beginning in the mid-1960s. A UNA activist, she witnessed improvements for nurses thanks to UNA’s organizing. In the late 1980s, she also experienced the negative impacts of governments’ austerity drives on the treatment of nurses. With staffing hires decreased, nurses were overworked and exhausted. In the run-up to the 1988 strike, employers showed their lack of appreciation for nurses’ extra efforts with signs of disrespect. Some eliminated traditions of providing each nurse with a turkey at Christmas. In Prevost, the employer charged 50 cents a cup for formerly free coffee. When nurses responded by bringing their own coffee, they were charged for electricity to plug in the pot. While free coffee and Christmas turkeys were not negotiating items, constant slights were on the minds of many nurses as they considered the austere offer of the employer. Rentz regards the government’s refusal to let nurses hold a strike vote as a final straw for under-appreciated nurses determined to have the employer “respect our process.” Rentz notes that UNA is structured so that “all of the concerns are generated from the grassroots up.”
Keywords: Alberta Hospital, Ponoka; Austerity; David Thompson Regional Hospital; Head nurses; Overwork; Right to a strike vote; UNA strike, 1988; UNA structure.
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See also: United Nurses of Alberta; Women and Work in Alberta