MORE UCP ARROGANCE: NURSES BECOME NEXT TARGET OF UCP CUTS AS COVID-19 NUMBERS RISE

LETHBRIDGE – Alberta NDP Finance Critic Shannon Phillips issued the following statement in response to recent remarks by Finance Minister Travis Toews regarding negotiations with the United Nurses of Alberta:

“On the day that our Chief Medical Officer of Health reported the highest spike in cases of COVID-19 in months, Jason Kenney and his Finance Minister are picking fights with nurses; the very people who are working around the clock, in tremendously difficult circumstances, to ensure Albertans are being tested, treated and cared for in the middle of a global health crisis. It’s unbelievable.

“These statements by Travis Toews are arrogant and insulting. He is threatening to fire 750 nurses and they are simply asking him not to do that until the pandemic has subsided and proper contract negotiations conclude. To accuse nurses working double shifts, often at more than one hospital, of ‘taking advantage of a health crisis’ is despicable. It’s clear he is planning to fire these nurses regardless of case count.

“This is about the health of each and every Albertan. Travis Toews should be ashamed of himself.”