Government makes it illegal for hospital nurses to strike

In 1983, the Alberta government took away the hospital nurses' legal right to strike with Bill 44. The law provided for compulsory arbitration to resolve bargaining issues and it provided for heavy fines and the suspension of union dues for nurses if they dare go on strike. UNA nurses were outraged by the law and pointed out that it violated their basic human rights. Moreover, the forced arbitration almost totally removed any incentive for employers to actually negotiate with nurses. The nurses adopted a defiant policy of refusing arbitration and insisting that only they would determine if and when they would take job action.

Bill 44 didn't cover the Health Unit workers and when the 1985 round of negotiations with the Health Unit Association of Alberta (HUAA) and other employers in the Alberta West Central Health Unit included major "takeaways", ten UNA health units began a legal strike. At the same time the Victorian Order of Nurses in Calgary began a strike for better wages and working conditions, but were foiled in their efforts when the employer unilaterally decided not to provide nursing services to its clients. The nurses were forced to find other employment.

The negotiations with the Health Units Association got complicated in terms of who was at which bargaining table and some groups arrived at accepted negotiated settlements earlier than others. Eventually, by late 1985 five of the bargaining units were covered and the striking nurses in Alberta West Central celebrated by publishing a cookbook entitled Strike One.

For the other five units it was January of 1986 before the dust had cleared. The point had been made, though, that takeaways and rollbacks were not acceptable and the nurses did receive a small wage increase. It wasn't until 1990 that this group received a large wage increase that gave them parity with the hospital nurses.