Alberta's largest union demands cuts to health care be reversed, province says health spending up
The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) is demanding provincial funding be re-established to the health-care system and for planned cuts to be halted.
In a news release sent Wednesday, the AUPE says hospital resources are being stretched to their limits amid the fourth wave of the pandemic that immediate action needs to be taken as "now people are dying preventable deaths."
The request comes as Alberta returned to a state of public health emergency with numerous public health measures announced Wednesday.
There are now more patients in intensive care, 270, in Alberta than at any other point in the pandemic. With Alberta's ICUs at 88 per cent of surge capacity, calls have been made to other provinces requesting access to bed space or available staff to help.
The vice-president of Alberta's largest labour union says the basic essentials of health-care delivery are on drastically short supply.
"Now, AHS (Alberta Health Services) is on the verge of triaging. That shouldn’t be happening in our hospitals," said AUPE vice-president Bonnie Gostola.
Triage is when medical professionals assign the degree of urgency on patients and determine who takes priority for treatment.
Gostola is also calling for a complete overhaul of the medical system with emergency funding support and for the province to end plans to outsource another 11,000 positions within AHS.
According to the province this cost-saving initiative will span over a period of three years and will exclude nurses and frontline clinical staff. Laundry, housekeeping, food service and lab work positions are likely to end up being contracted out to a private employer.
In an emailed response, a spokesperson for the finance minister says that the province can't speak to the multiple health-care contracts in the midst of negotiations with AHS, but is taking the pandemic and current state of hospital capacity very seriously.
Final details of the contract with the United Nurses of Alberta are scheduled to go to mediation next week after a tentative deal was struck.
"We have a tremendous amount of respect for the province’s hard working health-care workers, who have been essential in caring for Albertans throughout the pandemic," said Kassandra Kitz, senior press secretary.
She adds the provinces hopes for deals to be reached soon to bring labour stability to Alberta's health-care system.
As well, the AUPE says the province's health budgets in 2019 and 2020 did not adequately bolster healthcare for the current situation.
However, the province's latest budget for health is $23 billion for 2021 which is the largest single-year health investment in Alberta's history, says Kitz.
Healthcare spending on the COVID-19 response is at $1.5 billion for this year on top of the health budget.
"We also recently announced up to $36 million in new funding to improve wages and create additional workforce capacity. This will allow more Albertans to receive care outside of hospitals and free up resources to treat COVID-19 patients during the fourth wave," said Kitz.
There are no budget increases to AHS for 2023 - 2024 in the latest budget.
The Alberta Federation of Labour largely concurs with the AUPE that Alberta has been running a brittle system that can't handle shocks like its currently experiencing.
"(Alberta has)essentially been running a 'just-in-time' health-care system that runs very close to capacity even on normal days," said Gil McGowan, president of the organization.
He added, "the current crisis is a direct result of Kenney’s reckless and irresponsible Open for Summer plan, but it’s also a legacy of Klein’s cuts of the 90s and chronic underfunding ever since."
CTV News also reached out to the United Nurses of Alberta as well as the offices of the health minister, and is waiting to hear back.
Albertans need solutions because the pain is far from over," said Gostola. "The death toll grows. The Premier is coming in too little, too late today, but there’s still time to implement solutions, and we’re going to ensure he actually does right by frontline workers and all Albertans."
Alberta reported 1,609 new COVID-19 cases, 24 deaths and 877 hospitalizations on Wednesday.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'I just can't believe that it took so long': Body found in wreckage 3 months after deadly fire
A man accused of arson in a January Old Strathcona apartment fire is expected to be charged with manslaughter after a body was discovered in the burned building late last month.
No proof man lied to brother about number of kittens born in litter, B.C. tribunal rules
A man was denied a $5,000 payout from his brother after a B.C. tribunal dismissed his claim disputing how many kittens were born in a litter.
Quebec police hand out hundreds of tickets to Hells Angels and other bikers before 'first run' meeting
Quebec provincial police handed out hundreds of fines to Hells Angels members and other supporting motorcycle clubs who met for their 'first run' in a small town near Sherbrooke, Que.
Parliamentary report on Emergencies Act decision is 18 months past due — and counting
The erstwhile group of senators and MPs studying the federal government's invocation of the Emergencies Act over the "Freedom Convoy" was supposed to present its findings in December. December of 2022, that is.
Grandparents killed in wrong-way crash on Hwy. 401 identified
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.
A Chinese driver is praised for helping reduce casualties in a highway collapse that killed 48
A Chinese truck driver was praised in local media Saturday for parking his vehicle across a highway and preventing more cars from tumbling down a slope after a section of the road in the country's mountainous south collapsed and killed at least 48 people.
A candidate for Germany's key party was beaten up while campaigning for European elections
A candidate for Chancellor Olaf Scholz's center-left party in next month's election for the European Parliament was beaten up and seriously injured while campaigning in an eastern city, the party said Saturday.
Russia puts Ukrainian President Zelenskyy on its wanted list
Russia has put Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on its wanted list, Russian state media reported Saturday, citing the interior ministry’s database.
Snakes almost on a plane: U.S. TSA discovers a bag with small snakes in passenger's pants
According to an X post by the Transportation Security Administration, officers at the Miami International Airport found the small bag of snakes hidden in a passenger's trousers on April 26 at a checkpoint.