Legalities at Play
Government employees, especially in womendominated professions, were latecomers to unionism. But by the 1970s, many were unionized and involved in strikes, both legal and illegal. Before the United Nurses of Alberta( UNA) formed in 1977, nurses earned less than unionized grocery store clerks. After three provincewide strikes in the 1980s, nurses earned wages that reflected their years of training and their responsibilities, as well as concessions regarding vacations, shifts, and work safety. Crucially, the government acceded to nurses’ demands for professional responsibility committees. These are joint management – union bodies where nurses can bring concerns about workload, policies, and equipment that affect the quality of patient care.
But many nurses wondered if the 1988 strike, their third, achieved anything. That strike defied new provincial legislation that banned further healthcare strikes. Fourteen thousand nurses walked picket lines for nineteen days during brutal winter weather to protest wage rollbacks and inadequate staffing. Despite public support for their cause, the government ordered nurses back to work with their demands unaddressed. Their union was handed the largest fine ever imposed upon a Canadian union for holding an illegal strike. Only financial contributions from other unions saved UNA from bankruptcy.
But two years later, when nurses returned to bargaining with the same government, they won everything they had called for in 1988. UNA activists involved in both sets of negotiations concluded that UNA militancy in 1988 had terrified the government, resulting in generosity in 1990 to avoid another bitter strike.
Public Support Matters
Teachers’ labour actions have also sometimes produced employer concessions. In 2002, teachers from twenty-two school districts were ordered back to work after a two-week strike. Arbitration was initially offered by the government but then withdrawn. The ATA responded with a complete withdrawal of teachers’ voluntary services, an approach that spotlighted the unpaid work performed by teachers.
Public opinion favoured the teachers, and the government restored its offer of a fair arbitration process as well as a Learning Commission to investigate teachers’ concerns about classroom conditions. It also assumed costs of the unfunded liability component of teachers’ pensions for one year, the first step toward long-term resolution of that issue. Other government workers accepted reductions in their pensions because the government refused to even discuss unfunded liabilities with them. Teachers’ militancy allowed them to get this issue resolved in their favour.
The 2025 teacher strike may have ended with a resolution that was unsatisfying to many; however, history shows us that the strike’ s impact may be far from over.
Alvin Finkel is president of the Alberta Labour History Institute, professor emeritus of history at Athabasca University, and a prolific author whose most recent book is Humans: The 300,000 Year Struggle for Equality.
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