By Sheldon Spackman

tough news

AUPE members informed of job cuts, reduced hours at RDC

Jun 10, 2020 | 4:57 PM

Officials with the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) have announced member staffing cuts at Red Deer College.

In a release, the AUPE says workers at RDC were told earlier this week that some jobs were being permanently abolished, while others were laid off because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and more will see their full-time positions reduced.

“It is so frustrating to see these unnecessary job cuts damage colleges and universities, just when Albertans need post-secondary education more than ever,” says Bobby-Joe Borodey, vice-president of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) which represents 95,000 workers, including about 10,000 in education.

Instead of making cuts, Borodey says post-secondary education could be used to help workers retrain or upgrade their skills to help Alberta out of a recession.

“Instead, this government appears hell-bent on its ideological drive to slash and burn, to impose cuts on post-secondary budgets no matter the damage this will have on local economies and communities.”

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According to AUPE officials, Red Deer College informed their members that 14 full-time positions would see their hours reduced and that three workers would see their jobs permanently abolished. Two more layoffs were blamed on the pandemic.

The positions said to be affected are in a number of areas including advising and recruiting; information technology; library and student supports; facilities management; marketing and communications; office of the registrar; print centre; and the school of health sciences.

Union officials say Red Deer College’s Campus Alberta operating grant will be cut next year by 7.4 per cent or about $3.6 million. This in addition to the 2.4 per cent or $1.2 million cut this year.

According to union officials, the college said in a message to staff, “This is much more significant than we anticipated – our worst case planning scenario was a reduction of 3.0 per cent for next year.”