EDMONTON – The Alberta government is setting the stage for an attack on 250,000 public-sector workers by forcing a union and school boards in Fort McMurray to go to a Disputes Inquiry Board, says the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE).
“We hear a lot about freedom in this province, but it’s clear that freedom doesn’t extend to workers in the UCP’s Alberta,” says Bobby-Joe Borodey, vice-president of AUPE, which represents 95,000 workers in the province.
“There are a quarter of a million public-sector workers in bargaining, including 82,000 members of AUPE. They have a constitutionally guaranteed right to bargain, including the right to strike, but those rights have been torn away by the government’s decision to interfere in bargaining between the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and the school boards in Fort McMurray,” she says.
The government’s decision to establish a Disputes Inquiry Board makes it illegal for the union to strike or the employer to lock out workers until certain conditions are met. This board will only serve to delay the bargaining process.
“This is clearly the government interfering in bargaining and it’s a recipe for disaster. The only sure way to ensure labour peace is to allow both parties to reach an agreement on their own,” says Borodey.
“The government has been interfering in this round of bargaining since the beginning through the Provincial Bargaining and Compensation Office (PBCO) and with the imposition of secret mandates on employers,” she says.
“Setting up the Disputes Inquiry Board for Fort McMurray schools is the next step of what we expect will be an all-out attack on workers. This interference sours the relationship between parties, bogs down negotiations and leads only to more trouble in the future.”
Borodey adds: “Our members are fighting back after years of being disrespected by the government. These attacks on our freedoms will only increase our determination. AUPE members stand in solidarity with CUPE members – and that solidarity is growing stronger every day.”
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AUPE Vice-President Bobby-Joe Borodey is available for interviews.
Please contact Terry Inigo-Jones, AUPE Communications Officer at t.inigo-jones@aupe.org or 780-863-7850.