The past couple weeks have been a busy time for MNU, with us welcoming nurses from Alberta and Saskatchewan, the Pride parades in Winnipeg and Dauphin, and proceeding with next steps in regards to the outcome of the various regional votes on the tentative Collective Agreement.

I’d like to start with Prairie Labour School, which we hosted here in Winnipeg from May 27 to 29. This conference saw attendees from the United Nurses of Alberta (UNA), Saskatchewan Union of Nurses (SUN) and MNU.

The theme for this edition of Prairie Labour School was ‘Speaking up and speaking out’ and the goal of this conference was to gather, inspire and come out stronger. Many topics were covered over the course of the event and Prairie Labour School closed with a panel discussion on ‘Safe Working Hours for Nurses,’ a very timely topic.

It was so good to talk to nurses from other provinces to see our common issues and hear about solutions and ideas they are implementing. Prairie Labour School really was an amazing show of solidarity from our three Prairie provinces, and we certainly achieved our goal of building solidarity and unity.

I’d like to also thank all members who attended this year’s Pride Winnipeg Parade, our first with a decorated float. While temperatures were not as scorching as during last year’s event, it was still a hot one and, due to a protest along Portage Avenue, the parade came to a standstill and lasted about an hour longer than expected, so we thank our members, staff, family and friends for their patience!

Our gratitude to the MNU Pride Committee for their hard work in putting this together, especially Kris Doucet and Sarah Fordham, and in Dauphin, our thanks to Jaylene Korzeniowski.

Winnipeg’s float was truly one-of-a-kind with the combination of our MNU flags along with the rainbow garlands, fans, pom-pom tinsel, bunting and, of course, Pride flags. Read more about Pride below in this edition of The Pulse.

Finally, regarding the outcome of the Central Table vote on the tentative collective agreement, talks between our Provincial Collective Bargaining Committee (PCBC) and representatives of Shared Health are continuing. For those who may not be aware, MNU members in Shared Health voted to reject the tentative agreement reached in early May.

Once we have a next offer, we will once again present it to those MNU members of Shared Health, and they can democratically decide the next steps. Negotiation meeting dates have been set for today, June 10, and Wednesday, June 19.