Whether you have to work and how you are paid depends on your contract
September 14, 2022
All members
National Day of Mourning for the late HRH Queen Elizabeth II
Whether you have to work and how you are paid depends on your collective bargaining agreement
The Government of Alberta (GOA) announced today they will not be declaring a statutory holiday on Monday, September 19, 2022, as the federal government and several provinces have done. This decision affects AUPE members beyond those employed by the GOA because the provincial government determines statutory holidays for all workers through the Employment Standards Code. Workers with collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) will see a similar list under Named Holidays.
Some of your collective agreements have language that sets out that, in addition to those listed, any holiday declared by the federal, provincial, or municipal governments is to be considered a holiday for the purposes of administering the time off and overtime provisions of the collective agreement.
When the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation (NDTR) was declared last year by the federal government, Alberta refused to enact legislation that would make the holiday official throughout the province. The province left it up to employers to decide whether to recognize the holiday, which falls on Sept. 30.
Some employers honoured the NDTR as a holiday and others refused. AUPE was ultimately successful in arbitrating two policy grievances against Alberta Health Services (Nursing Care and General Support Services) for failing to recognize NDTR despite clear language in those collective agreements that guaranteed to recognize any holiday “proclaimed by the municipality or the government of Alberta or Canada”.
If your collective agreement has similar language and your employer is not granting you paid leave for the day, or compensating you for working on a Named Holiday, please let your MSO know by calling the Members Resource Centre at 1-800-232-7284 or sending them an email here.
Out of respect for members mourning the loss of HRH Queen Elizabeth II, the Canadian and Albertan flags at Headquarters will remain at half-mast until the end of the day on September 19, 2022.