The UNA introduced a one-page summary of proposals on the first day of negotiations addressing key issues for Alberta nurses. These key proposals focused on improving nursing care and safety. They included Patient Safety and Quality of Care, Employee Occupational Health and Safety and RN/RPN Professional Responsibility, Layoff and Recall, Length of Contract and Salary and Prepaid Health Benefits. The UNA desired progress in dealing with core problems that negatively affect health care for Albertans.
After the UNA's proposals, the AHS (Alberta Health Services) responded with a full proposal document that was unprecedented in the number and scale of rollbacks. UNA President Heather Smith expressed the next day that there was a "huge sense of almost betrayal" in the concessions that AHS outlined in their proposals. On March 9, 2010 Andrea Robertson, Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer, Nursing Strategies for AHS stated that AHS was "...offering a very fair and competitive proposal..." to the UNA.
On March 29, 2010 Heather Smith, President of UNA, requested that the Department of Mediation Services appoint a mediator and Thomas G. Hodges was assigned. On June 14, 2010 it was announced that he had provided formal recommendations for a settlement, which he presented to the UNA, AHS and other health employers one day ahead of a scheduled UNA provincial Reporting Meeting of over 600 nurses in Edmonton.
Thomas Hodges made recommendations regarding outstanding issues. He recommended the term of contract be three years commencing on April 1, 2010. He suggested a salary increase of 6 percent over the three-year collective agreement with no increase in year one and 2 percent and 4 percent respectively in years two and three of the agreement. Letters of Understanding guaranteed no overall reduction in the number of hours worked and a commitment by health-care employers to hire Alberta nursing school graduates and allow retirees to buy supplemental health-care and dental coverage.
On June 30, 2010 members of the United Nurses of Alberta were to hold a province-wide vote on the proposed collective agreement. UNA president Heather Smith outlined the achievements of successful passage of the agreement. "Our nurses' big concern in these negotiations was to increase nurse staffing for our patients," she stated. She also said the agreement would prevent Alberta nurses' salaries from falling behind and would serve to attract nurses to the area and included provisions to maintain and enhance nurse staffing.
