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United Nurses of Alberta 2004 | 3:55 min On January 25, 1988, faced by employers demands for major concessions, 14,000 members of the United Nurses of Alberta  walked off the job in defiance of a 1983 Alberta law that put nurses in the category of essential services workers.  They also defied a ruling by the Alberta Labour Relations Board stating that it was even illegal for them to hold a strike vote. They stayed out for 19 days, despite bitter cold and huge fines for contempt of court.  A collective agreement was ratified on February 13, 1988, after employers dropped demands for concessions and rollbacks.