‘The waiting just gives more anxiety’: Alberta health-care union VP on labour dispute

Leanne Alfaro on Alberta Primetime Oct. 15, 2025.

The Health Sciences Association of Alberta (HSAA) is ready to put pressure on Alberta Health Services, but might not head back into talks until mid-November, Vice President Leanne Alfaro says.

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She speaks with Alberta Primetime host Michael Higgins about recent bargaining talks and the needs of health-care professionals in the province after HSAA members rejected a tentative agreement on Sept. 10.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Michael Higgins: Both sides have appeared to be open to a return to bargaining. Are you back at the table talking, where does bargaining stand?

Leanne Alfaro: We’re certainly looking for all those answers too. But I’d like to start out by explaining who HSAA is. We are a union that represents 30,000 specialized health-care professionals across Alberta in all different health sectors, whether it’s acute care, community care, home care. We have members all across including our paramedics and our dispatchers.

We have our diagnostic imaging technologists. We have members in occupational therapy, physiotherapy for rehabilitation and recovery, and our mental health therapists, whether it’s psychologists, social workers, social workers or addictions counsellors. We really want people to know who we are and who we represent.

Right now we’re facing unsustainable workloads and severe burnout. We have been pressuring to get back to the table since our members rejected the tentative agreement on Sept.10, so we’re well over a month now.

We’ve had some informal discussions, and we have just found out we were expecting to get back to the table, actually this month in October, and we have now found out that the employer is delaying that until mid-November.

MH: Why is that? Or what have they told you?

LA: The reason we have been given is that one person is on vacation so they’re not able to come to the table till mid-November.

MH: How does that sit with HSAA leadership and members?

LA: Not very well. To continue to delay after we’ve been without a contract for 18 months, our members are still showing up every day for patients working under these unsustainable conditions, and now to hear a further delay after informal discussions of saying they were willing to come back after the finance minister put out a release on the day we held our rallies that we are at the bargaining table, so it’s more than disappointing. It’s our members, and we’re feeling pretty disrespected right now.

MH: As you reflect on rejecting that tentative agreement last month, what was not good enough for your members?

LA: It really just didn’t deal with the issues. Again, the unsustainable workloads are constant. Short-staffing is just not sustainable. How are we going to fill the vacancies? How are we going to retain who we have? We know health-care professionals are leaving the profession altogether, and they’re leaving Alberta to go elsewhere, because we are in a global crisis in health care, and we know short staffing is the main reason why.

MH: In looking for a new deal, are you building off that previous tentative agreement? What does a new deal need to accomplish?

LA: It needs to be able to address those biggest concerns, which is going to come down to investing in health care. We know the government needs to invest in health care in Alberta, and it needs to invest in the people. Which does come down to wages, benefits. How are we going to recruit more people into these professions? Many people aren’t going into health care in general, because it’s not sustainable. When you see what you have to endure.

MH: We know teachers did return to the bargaining table this week. To what degree does that situation potentially influence the outcome of where your bargaining goes?

LA: We’re not sure how it’s going to influence it. We’re absolutely paying close attention to any of the negotiations going on within the labour movement, we pay close attention to all of that. As union leaders, we have conversations. We watch to see what’s going on. But we’re here to bring our members’ issues forward in health care.

MH: We heard the clip of Mike Parker off the top at one of the rallies earlier this month, and he expressed that HSAA is strike ready. Is labour action still a possibility?

LA: It’s still a possibility. It’s still there. We are prepared. But honestly, we don’t want to have to go on strike. We care about caring for our patients. That’s why we go into these professions. So are we ready? Yes, because we have to be.

Our members keep going, and at some point it gets to the point where you just can’t anymore. It’s not sustainable.

MH: You’re one month removed from the failed ratification vote. Now it sounds like you’re one month away yet from a return to the bargaining table. What’s the mindset of your membership at the moment?

LA: Our members are anxious. Our members are concerned. They’re concerned for their patients. They’re concerned for themselves, of course, and their families. This impacts their entire life. The waiting just gives more anxiety.

The big question we get is, why? Why are they delaying an organization the size of Alberta Health Services? To tell us that it’s because one person is on vacation is not acceptable. We’ve been hearing a lot since we put out word to our membership yesterday and we are pressuring further to get back to the table this month.