Table of contents
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Position Statements: 1 - 10
- Position Statement 1 - Mandatory AIDS/HIV Testing
- Position Statement 2 - Reaffirming HSAA's Commitment to Medicare
- Position Statement 3 - Child Care and Early Childhood Education
- Position Statement 4 - Attendance Management
- Position Statement 5 - Bullying and Harassment in the Workplace
- Position Statement 6 - Students
- Position Statement 7 - Volunteers
- Position Statement 8 - Flat Tax
- Position Statement 9 - Employee and Family Assistance Programs (EFAP)
- Position Statement 10 - Local Unit Participation in Joint Union Activities
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Position Statements: 11 - 20
- Position Statement 11 - Human Rights, Equality and Non-Discrimination
- Position Statement 12 - Parental Leave
- Position Statement 13 - Poverty
- Position Statement 14 - Source Testing
- Position Statement 15 - Indoor Air Quality
- Position Statement 16 - Commitment to Public Health Care and Member Equity
- Position Statement 17 - Canadian Ratification of International Labour Organization Conventions
- Position Statement 18 - Progressive Labour Law Reform
- Position Statement 19 - Purchase of Union-Made and Fair-Trade Products
- Position Statement 20 - Energy Deregulation and Utility Privatization
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Position Statements: 21 - 30
- Position Statement 21 - Political Leave
- Position Statement 22 - Pension Plan
- Position Statement 23 - Child Labour in Alberta
- Position Statement 24 - First Contract Arbitration
- Position Statement 25 - Noise
- Position Statement 26 - Pharmacare
- Position Statement 27 - Climate Change
- Position Statement 28 - Sustainable Environmental Ethical Purchasing Policies
- Position Statement 29 - Domestic Violence and the Workplace
- Position Statement 30 - Net Neutrality
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Position Statements: 31 - 40
- Position Statement 31 - Electoral Reform in Alberta
- Position Statement 32 - Defined-Benefit Pension Plans
- Position Statement 33 - Living Wage Policy
- Position Statement 34 - Organizing
- Position Statement 35 - Supporting Public Education
- Position Statement 36 - Income Equality
- Position Statement 37 - Temporary Foreign Workers
- Position Statement 38 - Omnibus Budget Bill
- Position Statement 39 - Flu Vaccines
- Position Statement 40 - Workplace Health, Safety & Wellness
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Position Statements: 41 - 50
- Position Statement 41 - Trade Agreements
- Position Statement 42 - The Ten Principles of Unionism
- Position Statement 43 - Ending Violence in the Workplace
- Position Statement 44 - HSAA Representation on Employer Committees
- Position Statement 45 - Paid Sick Days for All Working Albertans
- Position Statement 46 - Total Worker Health
- Position Statement 47 - Time for a Real Reconciliation with First Nations
- Position Statement 48 - Invest in Young Workers
- Position Statement 49 - Invest in Public Services
- Position Statement 50 - People not Profits
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Position Statements: 51 - 57
- Position Statement 51 - Expansion of Medicare Umbrella - Dental Care
- Position Statement 52 - Expansion of Medicare Umbrella - Pharmacare
- Position Statement 53 - Opposition to Right-to-Work Laws
- Position Statement 54 - Prevention and Support of Workers Experiencing Mental Injury
- Position Statement 55 - Domestic and Intimate Partner Violence at Work
- Position Statement 56 - Opposition to Paying for Blood Products
- Position Statement 57 - Systemic Racism
Position Statement 1 - Mandatory AIDS/HIV Testing
It is the position of HSAA that mandatory mass screening of health care workers for HIV infection would be unjustified abrogation of individual civil liberties, not in the best interests of health care consumers, workers or of Alberta Taxpayers.
Rationale:
From time to time there are suggestions for mandatory mass HIV screening for all health care providers in Alberta.
Such screening provides at most a snapshot of a particular moment in time and provides no assurance of the individual’s HIV status at any time after the test, and
Health care workers are at far greater risk of contracting the virus from patients, but standard HIV screening of health care consumers is not proposed, and
The cost of wholesale screening of health care workers would be prohibitive, and
Such screening could lead both health care workers and consumers into a false sense of security, potentially leading to a relaxation of universal blood/body fluids precautions and exposure to not only undiagnosed HIV, but also to far more easily transmitted diseases such as Hepatitis B and C.
Approved AGM May 2002
Amended May 2018