Civic Services Union 52 has served strike notice to the City of Edmonton and Edmonton Public Library, meaning job action will begin at 11:00 a.m. tomorrow unless action is taken.

CSU 52 members provide crucial public services which contribute to the overall mental and physical well-being of Edmontonians. This includes recreational centres, libraries, dispatchers and so much more. If strike action begins tomorrow, it means residents will lose access to these facilities which are so important to their health.

Initial response to the provincial budget from Friends of Medicare’s executive director Chris Gallaway:

Albertans are increasingly concerned about accessing the health care they need when and where they need it. Today’s budget does little to ease those concerns. Right now, Alberta’s public health care system is in an urgent situation that requires urgent action to deal with the widespread short-staffing, worker burnout, and closures impacting our entire province.

Albertans will be watching for public health care investments in tomorrow's provincial budget.

Health care is expected to dominate the spring session of the Alberta legislature, which begins today. In advance of the start of session, the UCP government has already signaled an austerity budget, and has made concerning decisions around health care capital projects, including pausing the Airdrie Urgent Care Centre and the South Edmonton Hospital. As cover for these broken promises, the Health Minister announced $20 million over three years to go towards a new Stollery Children’s Hospital — an amount of funding that isn’t even enough to build an elementary school — while refusing to give a timeline for when the project would actually be fully funded and built.

EDMONTON — Earlier today, health care workers raised concerns about a frontline health care hiring freeze. In a statement released this morning, the Health Sciences Association of Alberta (HSAA) informed Albertans that the province is canceling recruitment for critical frontline health care professionals as part of a hiring freeze to manage an operating deficit.

EDMONTON — Earlier this week, the United Nurses of Alberta received deeply concerning letters from their employers warning about the potential for position reductions and contracting out in 2024. These letters were sent in the lead up as provincial bargaining is set to begin with nurses, and is similar to a tactic used in 2019 before that round of bargaining.

Friends of Medicare stands in solidarity with laboratory workers in their fight for fairness

This morning, Alberta’s medical laboratory workers called on DynaLIFE to return to the bargaining table, and to commit to fairness. Lab workers provide incredibly important services to Albertans, essential for timely diagnostics and treatment. Yet once again, just like when DynaLIFE tried to take away their pension plan, this private company’s profits are being prioritized at the expense of working conditions, public oversight, and patient care. All while Alberta is facing a chronic short-staffing crisis throughout our health care system.

EDMONTON — Earlier today the Governments of Canada and Alberta announced an agreement in principle for increased federal health funding. The agreement states some good shared goals, but it is concerning that there are no strings or accountability measures attached to this new federal money.

“There is no doubt that our provincial public health care system is in need of more support right now, but new federal dollars must come with accountability measures and strings attached to ensure that it goes where patients need it,” said Chris Gallaway, executive director of Friends of Medicare. “Our Premier should not be handed a blank cheque to be used to accelerate their plans for further privatization. Unfortunately, that’s what we saw with today’s agreement in principle.”

OTTAWA – As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet gather in Hamilton for a three-day retreat, a broad coalition of unions and progressive groups says that implementing a comprehensive pharmacare program must be a top priority for the Liberal government. The cost-of-living crisis has significantly increased cost-related obstacles to Canadians’ access to prescription drugs, while high drug prices are draining billions of dollars from hospitals’ budgets.

Expanding the use of for-profit surgical centres in Calgary is making health care short staffing worse while failing to solve the surgical backlog

EDMONTON — This morning, Minister of Health Jason Copping announced an expanded use of private, for-profit surgical centres in Calgary. Friends of Medicare and others have already spoken out at length about the problems with the government’s Alberta Surgical Initiative and their unfounded claims that privatization will improve surgical wait times.  

Members of Alberta’s major health-care unions are joining together to demand that the government of Alberta develop a plan to deal with the crisis in health care.