AUPE members stage rally in Taber; more to follow at other sites
EDMONTON – Front-line care workers at Good Samaritan Society facilities across Alberta are launching a fight back against unfair and disrespectful behaviour by their employer.
“Nearly 1,600 members of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) have been waiting almost five years to negotiate a collective agreement with the Good Samaritan Society, but the employer keeps stalling,” says Guy Smith, president of the union, which represents 95,000 workers. “It seems a mixture of incompetence and malice on behalf of the employer, but it’s the front-line workers and the residents who suffer.”
AUPE members and supporters will hold an information picket and rally at the Good Samaritan Society’s Linden View facility tomorrow (Tuesday, June 7). Smith and AUPE vice-presidents Susan Slade, Darren Graham and Sandra Azocar will attend.
“These members have seen no wage increases for five years, which is especially painful with today’s soaring inflation rates. Their concerns over workplace conditions and the level of care provided to residents have been ignored,” says Smith.
“To continue to stall on bargaining now, after more than two years of these workers putting their health and lives on the line during the pandemic, is insulting. It’s a shameful way to behave for an organization that claims to be faith-based.”
- TIME: 2:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
- LOCATION: The Good Samaritans Society Linden View
4700 64 Avenue, Taber.
Meanwhile, Seniors and Housing Minister Josephine Pon and MLA for Taber-Warner Grant Hunter are in Taber today (Monday, June 6) to launch Seniors Week.
“The people of Taber want to know why their seniors at Linden View, and the workers who care for them, are being treated with such disrespect and what the minister and MLA are doing to help,” says Smith.
A total of 17 Good Samaritan sites are affected by the delay in bargaining. Unless there is progress, more information pickets and rallies are expected. The communities affected are:
· Cardston;
· Edmonton;
· Evansburg;
· Lethbridge;
· Magrath;
· Raymond;
· Rocky Mountain House;
· Spruce Grove;
· Stony Plain;
· Taber; and
· Wetaskiwin.
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AUPE president Guy Smith will be in Taber and available for interviews on Tuesday at the Good Samaritan Society Linden View facility.
For information, please contact Terry Inigo-Jones, communications officer, at t.inigo-jones@aupe.org or 403-831-4394.