Date: 2021
Location: Edmonton
Profile: Jenna Knight, RN, currently a University of Alberta Hospital nurse, received her Nursing degree from U of A just as Alberta Health Services, responding to PC government cuts, implemented its 2009-2010 hiring freeze. All Knight could find was a casual position. A newcomer to unionism, Knight found UNA extremely helpful in explaining her rights as a casual hire. Encouraged by the union to attend an AGM, she soon became a union activist and has been a UNA executive board member since 2011. Through her activity, she learned for the first time about how much wages, benefits, and ability to speak out for patients had been improved thanks to UNA’s four strikes from 1977 to 1988 and tough negotiations with management afterwards. As she became more familiar with that history and with the collective agreement, Knight developed the confidence to become a mentor to younger nurses as she was mentored earlier. The COVID crisis has proved difficult for Knight. The long hours and AHS pressures to work even on days off clash with her family obligations as the mother of a young daughter. She has sometimes had to hire a babysitter to stay the night with her daughter.
Keywords: Alberta Health Services; Casual Nursing positions; COVID; Mentorship; UNA history: University of Alberta Hospital; Work-life balance
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See also: Occupational Health and Safety in Alberta; United Nurses of Alberta; Women and Work in Alberta