RED DEER — In the midst of a union- and guardian-led battle to protect disability services from privatization, the UCP has broken a promise with the frontline staff who care for residents at one of the last publicly-run homes for persons with developmental disabilities (PDD), violating its own single-site order.
Following pandemic protocols of the Chief Medical Officer of Health, in April the Government of Alberta issued an order restricting all staff at multiple continuing-care homes to one site. Employers included in the Order are legally and morally obligated to ensure staff suffer no harm for their dedicated service to one site, by replacing any lost hours with regular and overtime hours.
The Michener Centre refuses to obey the order, and now at least 40 hard-working AUPE members have suffered a substantial drop in hours and income.
“To make matters worse, the employer strong-armed members into selecting Michener as their sole job over the course of the pandemic,” says AUPE Vice-President Bonnie Gostola. “Now the ones who stayed are paying the price, along with the residents they support.”
Without consistent hours, staff cannot give residents the 24/7 care they need. Michener, a government-owned and -operated PDD service, is home to Albertans with a wide range of developmental disabilities that leave them unable to live independently.
“Our members help give back residents some of their independence,” Gostola adds. “They love what they do. Residents are their second family, and all they want is to give them a place they can call home, while being able to support their own families.”
Since the beginning of the pandemic, the UCP has been severing the tightknit support networks of PDD residents. In July it closed down the on-campus dentist office at Michener, which provides specialized services for residents. It also proposed selling off PDD homes in Edmonton and Calgary to corporate interests. For months, members staffing the homes have fought fiercely alongside guardians of Albertans with disabilities to save the services from privatization.
They’ve rallied outside the office of the Minister of Community and Social Services, delivered a petition with 4,600 signatures calling for a full stop to the privatization plans (which would uproot vulnerable residents in the middle of the pandemic), and requested multiple times to meet with the Minister.
“The Minister has been too busy trying to save face and pull public-relations strings to commit to anything,” says Gostola. “Clearly it’s all for show with the UCP because in the background, Kenney and his cabinet are coming to ruin disability services in big cities and small communities alike. AUPE is challenging the Michener at the Labour Relations Board and plans to file individual and policy grievances, but the government can bet this will mean trouble for them on the front-lines, where we’ll continue to fight.”
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For more information:
Celia Shea, Communications 780-720-8122