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Seen with a view of the Alberta Legislature were rank-and-file activist members Faye Shaw, Lydia Wozniuk, and Diane Sidaway, who later joined Jana Hruza,  Eileen Shewchuck and Ray White to meet with top ministry officials (Photo by LU 1-207 president Nick Stewart).

EDMONTON, AB –  United Steelworkers (USW) Health Care Activists successfully have presented their members’ concerns over health care aide staffing levels in long term care facilities to top bureaucrats of the Alberta government’s Health and Wellness ministry.

The USW group, consisting of LU 1-207 office Ray White and five rank-and-file members, met with Tom Mill, the Assistant Deputy Minister, of the Health System Development Division; Vivien Lai, Senior Manager, Continuing Care Policy and Lynn Olenek, Senior Policy Advisor, Continuing Care Policy, in early September.

The five local union activists accompanying White were Faye Shaw from the Masterpiece River Ridge Retirement care facility in Medicine Hat; Jana Hruza and Eileen Shewchuck from the Youville Home in St. Albert; Diane Sidaway from the Rivercrest facility in Ft. Saskatchewan and Lydia Wozniuk from Club Sierra in Medicine Hat (see enlargement of photo above for latter three).

The USW members got nearly and hour and a half to air their well-documented concerns over declining care standards for long term and continuing care residents in the province.

White told Mr. Mill and his colleagues that, although the government has increased funding to health authorities for the hiring of more health care attendants that “there is no accounting of where government money is being spent on the floor” and that short staffing is the “Number One Problem.”

White said that with government funding, there is no matching ratio for residents, which is being documented and addressed. On behalf of the delegation, White presented Mill and his ministry colleagues a binder of some 280 “Working Short Forms” that USW members have filled out, detailing the impacts that working short have had on resident care.

The names of the attendants were blacked out, but not the names or location that they worked for.

 “There’s many more forms in our possession,” says White. “And there have been many more instances where our members see serious impacts and just don’t want to put them down on paper.”

In the meeting White said that long-term care work has become more complex over the past 15 years. Health Care Aides now have to handle catheters and colostomy bags. White said that additional stress and hardship on health care aides is causing a lack of attention to residents’ needs such as adequate toileting and personal care.

At the same time he noted that Care Aides are involved in “end of life care” where emotional attachments are formed between caregivers and residents. Many caregivers attend the funerals of residents they have taken care of. Mr. Mill did respond that ratio had been addressed yet the ministry has still not solved the problem.

In a written response received by White after the meeting, Mr. Mill stated that, starting in 2005, Alberta Health and Wellness provided increased funding to regional health care authorities “to increase the paid hours of resident care in long-term care facilities to 3.6 hours of care per day.”

In 2006, wrote Mill, the increased dollars were targeted toward increased health care staff. At the meeting with White, Ms. Lai said that ratio were among the top 5 concerns but that a decision was made not to dictate ratios in long-term care, as the government had done in child care – due to the complexity of the care required. She said level of “acuity” needed to be measured.

On a related matter Lydia Wozniuk said a year and half-old government policy requiring long–term care facility operators to hire certified Health Care Aides or get existing health care aides to take training modules in the first 18 months, had caused a lot of resentment among existing health care aides. – some with 15 to 20 years on the job.

The experienced aides then made less money than those with training but with relatively little experience. In addition in her workplace in Medicine Hat, high school students who were planning post-secondary education as Licensed Practical Nurses or Registered Nurses were being hired without any training.

Mill told the group that the government backed away from certification requirement in August of this year in favour of skills development through services provided by the employer.

Ms. Lei told the lobbyists that the industry pay rate structure was to change and that the Alberta government put in an additional $78-80 million to hire long term care employees.

Lei said the money was given to Regional Health Authorities who were to in turn give it to the homes where staffing needs would be targeted. In return the ministry receives accountability reports on how the funds are being spent.

Diane Sidaway, from the Rivercrest Home in Fort Saskatchewan, asked Mill if the government could assist in making the job of a Health Care Aide more attractive by paying part of the $2,000 to $5,000 tuitions that are required.

She said it is a heavy load for workers who will get jobs starting at $11-$12 per hour. She said workers can get a job at a Tim Horton’s and not have to do the heavy work required of an aide.

Sister Sidaway noted that, although Alberta is the country’s richest province, some health aide workers are moving to BC and Saskatchewan where private health care wage rates are higher.

Mr. Mill responded by saying the government could help fund tuition but prefers not to, as health care facilities in the provinces are in the domains of Regional Authorities and private owners.

Lydia Wozniuk raised the issue that Health Care Aides, who have taken a Med Courses, are required to deliver medication to residents. She said that, unlike Registered Nurses and Licenced Practical Nurses, who have liability insurance, health care aides have none.

Sister Wozniuk pointed out that aides are concerned about having to sign Medication Administration Records and possible being sued by the family of a resident if an error was made in the delivery of the medication.

Vivien Lei responded by say the employer is liable for anyone they hire, and that a written agreement stating their policy would be a comfort the Health Care Aides with these concerns.

Mr. Mill said that the ministry got rid of Regional Health Care Authorities, their boards and CEO’s and now the province-wide health care authority has to decide what its priorities are.

 Acute health care issues are high in Calgary compared to Edmonton, for instance. And, in February, 2008 the Capital Health Care Authority Board gave a market adjustment rate increase of $1.00 per hour to workers. Mr. Mill said that works out to a $1.20 increase including benefits. That occurred after the United Steelworkers almost went on strike at the Youville Home (Grey Nuns) of St. Albert in the fall of 2006.


“The Capital Health Board’s move was a result of that a strike situation could occur in facilities that were bargaining in 2008,” says White.

The USW successfully negotiated with the Youville Home (Grey Nuns) of St. Albert where a four-year agreement collective agreement was ratified in late July.

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