On this day in Labor History the year was 1995.
That was the day that healthcare workers in Calgary, Alberta, Canada walked off the job in a wildcat strike.
Budget cuts in Alberta, under the leadership of Premier Ralph Klein, had hit healthcare particularly hard.
A massive restructuring plan called for deep cuts, privatization, and reducing services.
As part of this trend, the Calgary Regional Health Authority had decided to contract out the work of 120 laundry personnel.
The workers were members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 8.
The laundry workers walked off the job in protest.
Soon they were joined in solidarity on the picket line by housekeepers, orderlies, nurses and other hospital workers.
Eight hospitals across the city were impacted by the walk out.
Community members joined in and marched on the picket lines, frustrated by the government cuts.
Twice the Labour Relations Board ordered the workers to go back to their jobs.
Twice the workers refused.
The strike spread to Calgary, where more than 2,500 healthcare workers walked off the job.
In Edmonton, workers stood ready to strike.
Talk of general strike began circulating.
In Calgary the union met with management for a nineteen-hour marathon bargaining session and the ten-day strike ended.
The Health Authority agreed to wait eight months before contracting out any labor.
Workers were given severance packages.
And the government stopped any further cuts to the industry.
But the settlement did little to appease the dissatisfaction of the health care workers.
The strike had also shown the potential connections between workers’ issues on the jobs and concerns of community members.
The cutbacks hurt both labor and the general public, and brought them together to stand in solidarity.
December 1 - Standing Up for Themselves and Their Patients
November 30 - Angel of the Stockyards is Born
November 29 - The Fight for $15 & A Union
November 28 - Disaster in the Mines
November 27 - Death Trap in Newark
November 26 - The Birth of William Sylvis
November 25 - Chicago Printers Walk Off the Job
November 24 - The Hollywood Ten
November 23 - The Thibodaux Massacre
November 22 - Uprising of the 20,000
November 21 - Autoworkers Join the Postwar Strike Wave
November 20 - Birth of the Time Clock
November 19 - Joe Hill’s Final Words
November 18 - Accident or Murder?
November 17 - Resisting Impressment
November 16 - NFL Players End Strike
November 15 - The IWW is Raided
November 14 - The Origins of CWA
November 13 - The Holland Tunnel Opens
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