Dissatisfaction with the provincial government’s recent Bill 9 led to a protest near the Westlock Healthcare Centre last week.
Alberta Union of Provincial Employees chapter 43 chair Brenda Lussier organized the July 4 picket against the recent provincial legislation which delayed public employee wage arbitrations. Lussier represents auxiliary nursing employees like health care aids and LPNs, but RNs, EMS and other auxiliary AHS staff were also present.
“This (bill) damages the trust we have in this government. (It) is balancing the books off the backs of workers. … Any attack on rural public sector workers is an attack on rural Alberta,” said Lussier.
“We had a negotiated agreement, and the government is reneging on it,” said AUPE vice-president Rod Freeland, who was present at the picket.
AUPE was in the process of wage arbitration when the provincial government introduced Bill 9, the Public Sector Wage Arbitration Deferral Act, June 13.
“We were in negotiations for close to two years. Back in November (of 2018), both parties finally ratified an agreement … that for the first two years (public employees) would take zero and zero for wage increases, but on Jan. 15 (2019) they would start negotiating a wage re-opener,” said Freeland.
Those negotiations went to arbitration and the deadline for the arbitrator’s decision was June 30, but talks were cut short with the introduction of the bill.
“What this bill does is it basically denies us our constitutional rights to bargain a fair collective agreement,” said Freeland. Ultimately, “we believe they want to roll us back.”
Athabasca-Barrhead-Westlock MLA Glenn van Dijken said he is “disappointed that the unions are pushing back as hard as they are. In my opinion, this is not unreasonable … considering that governance has changed.”
The government’s position is that they are only delaying talks until the blue ribbon panel on Alberta’s finances returns with recommendations Aug. 15.
According to the provincial government’s website, the panel “will find ways to eliminate waste, duplication and non-essential spending to fund government’s key priorities.” Part of its mandate is “a plan to balance the budget by 2022-23, without raising taxes.”
Chairing the panel is former Saskatchewan finance minister Janice MacKinnon.
In October 2017, MacKinnon published a research paper on Alberta’s spending trajectories, co-authored with University of Calgary School of Public Policy fellow Jack Mintz.
They outlined concerns at the time with the province’s budget deficit and offered solutions to reduce public spending, but maintain the level of services being provided to Albertans.
At the time of provincial elections earlier this year, a major campaign promise from the United Conservative Party was to balance the budget.
“We’ve committed to Albertans that we’ll balance the budget by the end of our first term and this is part of that process,” reiterated van Dijken.
One of the solutions offered by MacKinnon and Mintz to balance the books was “cost constraint in labour compensation” to bring Alberta expenses in line with comparable provinces.
“To me, it would be irresponsible for the government to move into those types of negotiations without getting a good understanding of where we’re at with expenses,” says van Dijken, summing up the panel’s role as information-gatherers on provincial expenses at large.
van Dijken was adamant that “no decisions have been made yet.”
Still, the appointment of MacKinnon as panel chair is an indication of the direction the provincial government might be taking with respect to public spending policies.
Freeland sees the explanation offered by the provincial government for the purpose of the bill as “disingenuous,” because the blue ribbon panel is only looking at cost-saving measures, and has no access to revenue -– unlike an arbitrator.
“They (the government) don’t need the information because the arbitrator is the one who is getting the information from both parties,” said Freeland about the negotiation process which was curtailed.
Freeland also pointed to the time gap between the blue ribbon panel’s deadline of Aug. 15, and the arbitration re-opener which Bill 9 set to Oct. 31.
“Why delay it? … Because there’s a federal election and this government wants to have the ability to influence the federal election without having a final decision or foment labour unrest during that period,” said Freeland.
But van Dijken says the government will use the time to interpret the panel’s recommendations and make informed decisions.
“The legislation essentially mandates that (the government) has to enter into arbitration by Oct. 31. It doesn’t legislate that it may not enter into arbitration before then,” he said.
“It does concern me that the unions feel that it’s bad faith bargaining, but at the same time I think … we don’t have a good understanding of the Alberta fiscal position.”
Bill 9 passed third reading June 19 after a relatively contentious process including accusations from the opposition of limiting debate on the issue, and premier Jason Kenney handing out earplugs during debate. It received royal assent June 28.
AUPE filed a constitutional challenge June 24 against Bill 9.
They also have an injunction hearing set for July 29. Legal challenges have also been announced by the United Nurses of Alberta and the Alberta Teachers’ Association.
“At the end of the day, our government will be judged on how we treat our public sector employees,” concluded van Dijken saying he believes this process to be fair.
Unions disagree, however.
Similar AUPE pickets took place in Vegreville, Tofield, Lamont, Two Hills, Calgary and Leduc with more scheduled for Slave Lake and Athabasca.
