By Canadian Press

more than 180,000 workers

Alberta asking arbitrators to cut public service pay by two per cent

Oct 29, 2019 | 3:23 PM

EDMONTON — The Alberta government is seeking wage rollbacks as binding arbitration gets set to resume with more than 180,000 public sector workers.

Finance Minister Travis Toews says the government will ask arbitrators to impose a two per cent wage cut.

He says the province has great respect for what the workers do, but that public sector pay accounts for more than half of government expenses and is higher than comparable provinces.

Workers affected include nurses, social workers, hospital support staff, prison guards, conservation officers, toxicologists, restaurant inspectors, therapists and sheriffs.

They were to have their wages reopened earlier this year under collective agreements, but the province passed a law to delay them until Oct. 31 so it could get information from a panel studying Alberta’s finances.

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The unions have been asking for pay raises ranging from three per cent to almost eight per cent, and the government had been asked for a wage freeze.

Toews says circumstances now demand a two per cent cut.

“We cannot ask Alberta taxpayers to fund public-sector pay raises during a time when far too many workers in the private sector have lost their jobs and many others have seen significant pay cuts in recent years,” Toews said in a news release Tuesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 29, 2019.

The Canadian Press