UNA Local 1 (Peter Lougheed Centre)

12/18/2025

United Nurses of Alberta encourages recent nursing school graduates to apply for Transitional Graduate Nurse positions that have recently been posted on the Alberta Health Services Careers website.

The more than 200 positions on the AHS job board are part of the Graduate Nursing Transition Pilot Project that was negotiated as part of UNA’s Provincial Collective Agreement. The pilot project requires the employers to hire 1,000 new nursing graduates for each year of the four year contract.

These positions are for 12-months and include two phases.

During the first phase, these nursing positions will be supernumerary and will include a 3 to 6 month enhanced orientation where the employee is paired with a Clinical Guide to develop and complete a personalized learning plan.

The second phase of these positions will include independent practice with support from an assigned mentor.

After transitioning to independent practice, nurses in these positions will be required to apply for available vacant positions of no less than 0.5 FTE in a similar practice setting, ideally within the same unit, program, site, or office.

Currently I do not see any transitional graduate nurse positions in Calgary but there are positions in rural or Edmonton. Please keep a lookout for more possible postings in the future.

12/10/2025

The 2026 schedule is out for UNA workshops! If you haven’t taken any before you can go to dms.una.ca under “events” to register now. Spots are limited and fill up fast. You will receive salary replacement and lunch. The workshops are held at the SARO office across from FMC.

12/06/2025

We had our Local 1 AGM on Wednesday and it was great to see everyone who attended!

12/06/2025

With the holidays coming up, this is just a reminder of your rights when it comes to named holidays

11/20/2025

11/20/2025

In solidarity with our AUPE co-workers

11/19/2025

As a result of an agreement reached in collective bargaining by United Nurses of Alberta, the provincial cabinet has extended presumptive coverage for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other traumatic mental health injuries to Registered Nurses, Registered Psychiatric Nurses, Graduate nurses, and undergraduate nurses.

After years of advocacy by front-line nurses, these nurses will no longer be forced to wait for – or be denied – access to Workers’ Compensation benefits after experiencing traumatic events while on the job.
“Extending this coverage to nurses means the Workers’ Compensation Board will presume that a nurse’s PTSD diagnosis was caused by the nurse’s work, unless the contrary is proved,” said UNA Labour Relations Director David Harrigan, who served as chief negotiator in the last round of bargaining.

“It also means that psychological injuries other than PTSD will be presumed to be caused by work when the nurse establishes that a traumatic event in the workplace took place, unless there is proof of a non-work cause,” he added.

“The government promised to make this change in bargaining, and we were very pleased to learn that they had fulfilled their commitment with this cabinet order,” Harrigan said. “This means nurses now have the same coverage already extended to other first responders such as police, firefighters, emergency medical workers, dispatchers, and correctional officers.”

Presumptive coverage for Registered Nurses and Registered Psychiatric Nurses was agreed to during bargaining for UNA’s provincial collective agreement earlier this year.

11/19/2025

United Nurses of Alberta has a long tradition of supporting members in their efforts to engage in humanitarian assistance missions abroad through UNA International Solidarity Fund grants.

Twice each year, UNA provides a maximum of 10 grants of up to $1,000 to UNA members for the purpose of engaging in missions abroad that provide humanitarian assistance of capacity-building to a host community.

UNA members can apply for the grant through UNA’s DMS system. Successful applicants will be contacted through their .ca email and they must confirm receipt of that email by replying within 30 days of its receipt.

Applications must be received prior to travel.

Grant funds will be disbursed following the submission to UNA’s second vice-president of a written report from the member about their humanitarian experience mission. The report must be submitted within 60 days of completion of the humanitarian work. Selection criteria includes the strength of the application with preference given to first-time recipients.

Important deadlines for applicants:

- Applications are due on May 15 and December 31 of each calendar year.

- For travel between January 1 and June 30, applications must be received prior to December 31 of the preceding year.

- For travel July 1 and December 31, applications must be received prior to May 15 of the year in which travel occurs.

Applications are reviewed by the Membership Committee of UNA’s Executive Board after the May 15 and December 31 deadlines.

11/14/2025

We will be holding our Local 1 AGM on Wednesday Dec 3, 2025 from 1600-1800hrs in the PLC Auditorium. All local 1 members are welcome to join, and if you are working, feel free to come by on your break. There will be snacks, treats, and refreshments, as well as some amazing door prizes to be won!

Registration is required for this meeting so we can ensure there is enough food for everyone. You can register on DMS. The deadline for signing up for this event is Sunday November 30th by end of day. When registering, select the option “Unfunded Observer”. Please ensure you indicate your allergies/dietary restrictions during the registration process.

As it is our AGM, the following Executive and Committee positions up for election:

Executive Positions
President 2-year term
Secretary 2-year term

PRC Committee
2 positions 2-year term

OH&S Committee
2 positions 2-year term

If you are interested in running for any of these positions, please email a completed nomination form to the Local 1 Executive by Wednesday November 26 by 1600hrs. You will find the nomination form attached.

If an election is required, we will need to have all voting members listed and entered into Election Buddy prior to the meeting, another reason that registration is essential! The election, if required, will run from approximately 1630hrs to 1715hrs. You must attend the meeting to be eligible to vote.

We look forward to seeing some of you in a few weeks!

11/14/2025

Members of the United Nurses of Alberta need to be aware their Employer has agreed to contribute to
a supplemental pension plan in the form of a Registered Retirement Savings Plan or Tax Free Savings
Account contribution.

UNA strongly recommends that all members who are regular Employees act to take advantage of this
provision if they haven’t done so. It is a benefit they cannot receive without taking specific action to
enroll. So without acting, employees are going without a 2 per cent retirement income supplement to
their salary that they are entitled to receive under the collective agreement.

Article 29.05 of the UNA Provincial Collective Agreement
29.05 (a) The Employer shall provide a supplemental pension plan in the form of a Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) or Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA). Employees shall determine the allocation to either a RRSP or TFSA. Employees may change their allocation effective April 1st of each year.
(b) Effective on the Employee’s date of enrollment, a Regular Employee shall have the right to contribute up to 2% of his or her regular earnings into the RRSP or TFSA until December 31st of the year the Employee turns 71. The Employer shall match the Employee’s contributions into the RRSP or the TFSA.
(c) A Regular Employee who, by virtue of his or her age, no longer qualifies under Article 29.05(b), shall receive an additional 2% of her or his regular earnings.
(d) “Earnings” as defined in Article 29.05(b) above, will include WCB earnings until such time that the Employee exhausts his or her sick leave credits and is deemed to be on sick leave without pay.

The agreement does require that employees contribute 2 per cent of their salary for the employer to
match, and employees need to enroll in the program for the employer to contribute this money. No UNA
member should go without funds for their retirement that their Employer has agreed to contribute.

This supplemental pension is not available to temporary or casual employees.

11/04/2025

Local 1 at AGM 2025 ❤️🤍

11/03/2025

Hello Local 1 members,

We will be holding our next member meeting on Wednesday November 5, 2025 at 1630hrs by Zoom. All members must register on DMS to attend this meeting. The registration deadline is Tuesday November 4, 2025 by end of day.