By Sheldon Spackman

Budget Layoffs

AUPE announces member layoffs at Olds College

Apr 13, 2020 | 10:23 AM

The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) says that some of its members working at Olds College were notified of mass layoffs on Thursday – just ahead of the Easter long weekend.

AUPE says up to 100 workers were notified they will either be out of work or have their hours reduced as a result of the Alberta government forcing the college to make budget cuts amidst funding restraints and the economic effects of COVID-19.

“The UCP government is kicking rural Albertans when they are already down,” AUPE Vice-President Bobby-Joe Borodey says in a release. “We are in the middle of a global pandemic and the UCP is forcing massive layoffs when Albertans need security and support from their government.”

AUPE noted the news came on the same day Statistics Canada announced Alberta lost a total of 117,100 jobs in March, with more anticipated because of COVID-19.

“It is wrong to kill jobs when we don’t have to,” says Borodey. “If the UCP fails to relax budget mandates for post-secondary then this will keep happening all over Alberta. This government is shamelessly adding to the 25,000 K-12 education worker layoffs.”

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Borodey says because of politicians, the human and economic impact is going to be much worse than what would happen because of the pandemic alone.

“Make no mistake. This fight is not over, she exclaims. “I call rural Alberta home, and our communities are calling on Premier Kenney to step up to the plate and reverse the mandate the Advanced Education Ministry has given post-secondary institutions to make budget cuts. The Premier can stop layoffs in post-secondary during this crisis. We need him to do the obvious and stop the layoffs announced today in Olds.”

(With file from AUPE media release)