Year: 2007
Location: Edmonton
Profile: Linda Sloan served as president of the Staff Nurses Association of Alberta (SNAA) from 1992 to 1997 before becoming a Liberal MLA and later an Edmonton city councilor. She decided to become an Opposition politician after the SNAA made a presentation to the provincial Minister of Health about the Klein cutbacks and reconfiguring of the healthcare system. Minister Halvar Johnson’s unconcern about the Nurses’ recommendations made Sloan believe that she could have more impact if she became an MLA. Sloan graduated from the Foothills School of Nursing in 1982. Just before she graduated, the hospital was planning to use its student nurses to replace striking nurses. A core group of student nurses, including Sloan, made it clear to management that student nurses refused to scab. Later, moving to Edmonton, Sloan worked in emergency at the University of Alberta Hospital where she became active in the SNAA, joining its board in 1987. As president, she challenged management on floating nurses to different units and on efforts by the hospital to replace RNs with cheaper forms of nursing support. Sloan lauds SNAA’s winning of Professional Responsibility Committees. Sloan had left SNAA for politics before the SNAA and UNA united into one union.
Keywords: Edmonton city councillor; Emergency ward; Floating nurses to different units;Foothills School of Nursing; MLA; Professional Responsibility Committees; Replacing RNs with cheaper nurses; Staff Nurses Association of Alberta; Student nurses and strikes; University of Alberta Hospital.
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See also: United Nurses of Alberta; Women and Work in Alberta