AHS Jobs.....Poof! Gone

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Good morning everyone!

Just wondering if you've noticed the activity on the AHS job board the last few days. Today, there are approximately 200 nursing positions active on the site. Two weeks prior to the budget, there were over 1000 positions, and then shrinking daily. Yet we are all working short.

Yes, I am aware the AHS Board is freezing positions and preparing to decrease the workforce through various means. However, I did not expect this many positions to disappear almost overnight.

Hopefully, someone will come to their senses. It's either feast or famine and to what end?

History repeats itself. Sigh. I'm shaking my head, as in, "Here we go again."

Perhaps the grand plan is to work everyone to the bone so we either quit or expire right on the job. This would save AHS millions.

Various posters inquire about moving to Alberta. Well unless you have a firm offer, do not move yet. Even with a job offer, beware....seniority rules. Last hired is first out when layoffs and restructuring occurs. AB will prosper again, but for the moment prospects are grim as far as the job market is concerned.

Do your research carefully and thoroughly before making important life changing decisions

Jan, I don't "like" that 12 people got laid off. But sheesh, Managers survive, casuals remain on the books and regular staff get laid off???

I had heard that Health Records at RAH had laid of all of their casual clerks about a month ago. Don't know for sure but the grapevine is usually pretty reliable when it comes to this kind of stuff.

Specializes in geriatrics.

Whatever happened to all those nurses who after the transition unit at RAH closed? Surely that amounts to layoffs somewhere?

Yet according to an article I read, Dr Eagle made around 600,000 last year in salaries. That's a sin!

They got slotted into the open lines that had the same FTE. Rumour has it a few retired.

Specializes in MPH Student Fall/14, Emergency, Research.

Drink your Kool-Aid and repeat after me:

"These layoffs had nothing to do with the budget"

Drink your Kool-Aid and repeat after me:

"These layoffs had nothing to do with the budget"

There is a kernel, a very small nuget of truth in the statement. We all know that since 2011, every position has been under the microscope. I know of one unit that when four RNs retired, the positions were reviewed, scopes of practice were reviewed and four LPN lines were created. Cost wise it was more effective. This was done 18 months ago. The RNs on the unit were foul to the new hires. But guesss what they've calmed down. The patients don't know who is an R and who is an L. They just care that their needs are being met now.

I know that my unit is under review. It's not going to be pretty, because we are RN heavy for what we do and the skill set utilized. My unit doesn't use blood, travisol, or chemo drugs (well, we used a chemo IV drug once last year). Two RNs per shift are all that are required for Charge and coverage. Everything else that we do is fully within an LPNs scope of practice. AHS could have a field day and save a huge amount of $$$$

Specializes in geriatrics.
Drink your Kool-Aid and repeat after me:

"These layoffs had nothing to do with the budget"

Lol how naïve do they think people are???

I've always held very little respect for politicians. They all figure if the propaganda is thick enough, people will buy it. And Redford....pre-election was campaigning in support of healthcare and education. Yet, soon after entering office brings the axe down on both sectors. So typical, and reminicent of the climate of the 90's.

Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.

Anybody else notice that this "announcement" was made during the afternoon of the day before a four-day (administrative) weekend? By the time they all go back to work on Tuesday a lot of the furore will have died down. This tactic is becoming a habit with them. I'm already fearful for what's coming for May long weekend... although 7 weeks is a long time for this bunch to be idle.

Specializes in geriatrics.

The timing was no accident for sure.

In light of all this, I'm mentally and financially prepared for a layoff. However, I'm in a rural area and we are short as it is. So I'm staying put until the restructuring dies down.

Joanna, the rural location is probably your biggest safety net.

We've heard via the usual chain of whispers that anyone with less than five years seniority needs to worry.

Specializes in geriatrics.

I would believe that. At least where I am now, I'm higher up in the food chain. I've also taken on additional responsibilities over time, mainly because I am one of the more senior nurses.

Aside from the politics and occasional boredom, I do enjoy my job. I haven't seen it this bad in 20 years....AB and most everywhere else. Definitely not worth leaving voluntarily.

I hope the rest of you are safe. It's very stressful right now. And yet, in another 2-3 years, they will start crying for nurses. Our government never learns.

Specializes in Home Care.

I remember many of you discussing ongoing issues with AHS back in the fall of 2010. I was in college in Florida in the first semester of LPN-RN bridge.

After all I'd read I decided my best course was to return to Alberta as an LPN. So I thinnk that what you all forecast then is really coming true now.

I really don't understand the fiscal policies of our current provincial government. What's up with their financial planning and budgeting. Are they just that out of touch with reality? Do they even know where the money goes?

Juli, I think the Conservatives are fully in the pocket of the oil & gas sector. Look at how low the royalties are. Alaska and Norway are way more stable than we are.

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