Meet Amy.
In case you missed it, that’s not her real name. But what's real is her story.
She has been a nurse since she graduated in 2002. She’s been on this journey, the highs and lows associated with health care, her entire career. She is completely in support of her union. She knows how public sector employees can be volleyed between political parties and elections.
This pandemic has taken its toll on her family. Amy has two young children and a super supportive partner. She doesn’t want to give up on the fight or settle for the injustice, but, like a toxic relationship, this constant state of fight or flight, this back and forth-ing is emotionally exhausting.
She voted in favour of not just a strike, but of treating humans with respect. Now that she and her many thousands of colleagues have spoken, the games begin.
Now that Manitoba nurses have said they would be willing to take job action in order to be treated with respect, the lip service in the media is constant. It’s hard to wait.
They are ready to walk off the job because they know that the government’s constant press releases about what they plan to do is nothing more than talk. There’s no action. There’s no respect. This rollercoaster feels never-ending.
The more the politicians talk about how thankful they are to nurses while dragging their feet to offer up a fair contract, the more she ruminates on the insults.
Remembering that campaign trying to entice nurses to come to Canada that the Pallister government put out – like the one with fake nurses enjoying spa days, or the one that had images of women in scrubs cross country skiing – the more rage she feels.
Lip service is one more distraction from what matters, which is nurses walking off the job. As Amy reads the latest emails sent from government claiming they aren’t the employer, that Shared Health and WHRA are the employers, the angrier she gets.
Walking around with all of those negative emotions bottled up, trying to hide her angry smile, so that she doesn’t misdirect, blow up, on the people she loves the most.
Behind Amy’s mask, she’s asking for your help. Please have the couRAGE to know that real action isn’t ink on paper. Real action isn’t late to the table. It doesn’t come dressed in scrubs with arms exposed to cross country ski.
Real action is a solid and fair contract, not just backed by puppets, but also by the person holding the strings.
