Location: Calgary
Profile: Born in Weyburn, Saskatchewan, Kathie Bzdel worked low-paid jobs until she entered university as a mature student. Trying to balance family, school, and work, she suffered a life-threatening stroke. The near-death experience reaffirmed her commitment to completing her Social Work degree. Her dream of hospital work, however, took eight years to be fulfilled as she was passed over for employment due to a lingering disability from the stroke.
Once hired at Foothills Hospital, she started as casual staff, and then worked her way into full-time employment as a palliative homecare social worker. In her earlier career at Safeway in Weyburn in the 1980s, her union job didn’t protect women from unequal treatment. But at Foothills, under HSAA’s agreement, wages are based on credentials, not gender.
Bzdel helped start HSAA’s shop steward program at Foothills Hospital and continues to balance the challenges of union work including: time crunch between union activism and family, staying non-partisan when politics directly impacts workers, and public apathy. She describes her pride in the union and her role as a leader to encourage others to get involved.
Keywords: Foothills Hospital; Gender inequality; Homecare; Palliative homecare social work; Political advocacy; Safeway; Social work.
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See also: Occupational Health and Safety in Alberta; Health Sciences Association of Alberta; Women and Work in Alberta