Year: 2007
Location: Edmonton
Profile: Jane Sustrik was local president of the Staff Nurses Association of Alberta at the University of Alberta Hospital when the SNAA and UNA negotiated their merger. She played a key role in negotiations and in 1999 became a vice-president of UNA. When she retired from UNA in 2020 to become full-time caregiver for her elderly mother, Sustrik was first vice-president of UNA, a national officer of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions (CFNU), and a member of the board of directors of the Alberta Workers Compensation Board. After graduating in 1982 from a hospital-based RN program, Sustrik nursed at U of A. Before the Klein cuts, nursing at the hospital was characterized by teamwork and solid mentorship. But with the cuts came an “imposed shortage of nurses” and privatization of many hospital services. SNAA members, while proud of their organization, recognized the need for all nurses to work together to fight for public and patient-centred healthcare. In merger talks, the SNAA insisted that their employees’ jobs and seniority be recognized by UNA, that SNAA units have membership on the UNA Board, and that UNA join the CFNU. The merger resulted in nurses becoming a unified political force in Alberta healthcare.
Keywords: Alberta Workers Compensation Board; Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions; Cutbacks in nursing positions; Klein cuts; Merger of UNA and SNAA; Privatization; Staff Nurses Association of Alberta; University of Alberta Hospital; Vice-president, UNA.
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See also: United Nurses of Alberta; Women and Work in Alberta