On a stormy winter day in December 1964 New Brunswick nurses, wearing hats and white gloves, met with Premier Louis Robichaud to petition for better wages and conditions. It turned out to be one of the most significant encounters in the history of New Brunswick nurses. The Premier admonished them to be “dedicated” and work for less pay. For the nurses this showed that not enough value was placed on their work, and they concluded that something had to be done.

New Brunswick nurses had formed their professional association, the New Brunswick Association of Registered Nurses in 1916; but it was not until 1978 that the New Brunswick Nurses Union was established. Until the 1960s and 1970s nurses were taught primarily in hospital schools, where their training involved three years (later two) of classes and practical work. They were taught to be the handmaidens of the health profession, to be silent and subordinate to the physicians. Nursing was “women's work” and paid poorly. In the 1960s nurses began to envision a change.

Wage freezes in the late 1960s underlined the problem. By this time, the Association had established social and economic welfare committees, held workshops on collective bargaining and had created Provincial Collective Bargaining Councils (one for hospital nurses and the other for civil service nurses) that were distinct but linked to the NBARN. Full access to collective bargaining under the law, however, had to await the passage and proclamation of the new Public Service Labour Relations Act which recognized that public servants had the right to collective bargaining, including the right to strike if all else failed. By December 1969, public servants had these rights, although hospital workers and nurses had to negotiate with employers over the designation of “essential workers” . Many nurses renounced the strike weapon as “unprofessional” , a tension that would permeate nursing into the 1990s.

What were some of the milestones for nursing activism? Three major events are central to the story of how nurses became more active in advancing their rights and seeking adequate recognition for their work. This includes events in 1969 and then key struggles in 1975 and 1980-81 for better conditions and pay.

In the summer of 1969, talks with the employer (back then, the Hospital Association) broke down and nurses took direct action by resigning en masse. They faced starting salaries that were said to be the lowest in North America and employers who refused to reward additional training in the form of salary increases. Frustrated by the changing set of Hospital Association negotiators, nurses began a series of large-scale resignations beginning in Fredericton on 15 July. By August a settlement was reached with significant improvements.

The year 1975 witnessed another milestone in nurses' activism. Reacting to an alleged pay increase of 65 per cent for workers represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees, including Registered Nursing Assistants, the nurses pressured the government to re-open their contract. Nurses were upset that RNA salaries were very close to those paid to registered nurses. Beginning in mid-January 1975, nurses booked off sick to back their demands, labeling their campaign the “blue flu” as 700 nurses in 15 hospitals called in sick the first day. Nurses faced negative publicity, as one hospital administrator accused them of being guilty of “mixed greed and misplaced pride.” The Moncton Times charged nurses with “recklessness” , “smugness” , and a lack of social conscience. Threats of punishment and docked pay only increased the nurses' resolve, and the campaign escalated as nurses began to hand in their resignations. Nurses in northern New Brunswick were especially militant as four of the five hospitals subject to injunctions were located in francophone areas of the province. In addition the government filed a writ for damages against the Provincial Collective Bargaining Council which represented the hospital nurses.

Even though the nurses did not achieve the re-opening of their contract, the crisis of 1975 was an important turning point. From the documents of the time it is clear that rank and file nurses at the local level were far ahead of the nurses' leadership, who were taken by surprise by the level of unrest. Nurses' discontent with their own organization resulted in a series of changes: representation on the bargaining councils was made more democratic and nurses won more say on negotiation issues and a vote on contracts. Another significant development was the support of organized labour for the nurses. In addition, as Premier Richard Hatfield promised better conditions in the future, the struggles of 1975 became part of nurses' collective memory.

By early 1980, nurses had a new organization, the New Brunswick Nurses Union, which was founded in 1978. After almost five years of wage controls imposed by the federal and provincial governments in the 1970s, the new union was determined to mount a strong campaign to improve wages, working conditions and patient care. “The Nurse is Worth It” campaign of 1980-81 generated much publicity — letters to the press and the politicians, meetings with MLAs in their ridings, demonstrations at the Legislature and an advertising campaign. Support came from many quarters — the New Brunswick Medical Society, individual doctors, hospital administrators, labour and women's groups. All through the campaign nurses argued that, compared with other provinces, New Brunswick nurses were significantly underpaid. A number pointed out that they were breadwinners who supported families. They also pushed for patient care committees to protect the quality of health care.

As the campaign intensified in the fall of 1980, nurses donned the “red badge of frustration” and marched and rallied to gain support from the public. In Moncton they also disrupted a meeting where Premier Hatfield was speaking. After nurses rejected a conciliation board's report, these pressures culminated in the threat of a strike. In January 1981, after almost a year of campaigning, another conciliation attempt won the nurses a hefty 41 per cent increase over 27 months and joint committees on patient care. It was a decisive victory.

While New Brunswick nurses used their collective strength successfully in these campaigns and without actually going on strike, union activists remember how difficult it was to get nurses to realize that they could be professionals and union members at the same time. As Madeleine Gaudet (Nonnie Steeves), president of the NBNU from 1982 to 1990, remarked in one of our interviews:

There was this perception that if you were union you had somehow given up your professionalism. You had dumped the lamp, so to speak. And it took a long time to get that, that you could be both. That you had a right to that union. You were a professional who had a right to be unionized. But that, it was inbred. Our roots were with the nuns, the sisters, with the wars and the dedication was pounded into you, so it was a long time breaking.

Rita Dubé, president of the union from 1975 to 1980, called it “wearing two hats” . The tensions between professional and union identities has remained an important theme for the nurses as they continue to strengthen the provincial health care system by demanding full recognition of the value of their work.