(rdnewsNOW file photo)

By rdnewsNOW staff

CONTINUED CALL FOR BETTER CONTRACT

AUPE workers rallying Saturday in Red Deer

Sep 7, 2024 | 6:00 AM

Following a series of over 50 bargaining town halls held across Alberta in June, the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) is organizing several rallies across the province.

Red Deer AUPE members will gather Sept. 7 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. near Red Deer Polytechnic. They will be located between the two sets of lights at 100 College Boulevard along 32 Street.

“It is time for AUPE members to stand up for ourselves and the Albertans who rely on us. We are ready and willing to fight for the improved collective agreements and critical public services we deserve,” Darren Graham, AUPE vice-president for the central region of the province, told rdnewsNOW Friday.

AUPE has about 100,000 members, and Graham says that more than 82,000 of them are currently in negotiations across multiple sectors in the province. Following the town halls this summer, AUPE members identified staff shortages in the face of population growth, job security amidst privatization, and wages as their primary concerns, he says.

Alberta’s Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board Nate Horner commented Friday on the upcoming AUPE rallies.

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Horner expressed thanks to Alberta’s public sector workers for the programs and services they provide, but said some perspective on the matter was needed. He repeated the claim that the AUPE is requesting a 26 per cent wage increase over the next three years for its government-employed members.

“The average Albertan has not seen this kind of wage increase, and this government is not going to increase taxes or cut programs and services Albertans rely on to support pay increases that are far beyond market,” he said. “We must remain competitive with other public sector settlements across Canada that have achieved market-based compensation.”

Graham said that the 26 per cent increase mentioned by Horner is an unfair characterization of the union’s goals as its members all work in varying sectors that have their own challenges and negotiating tables with the provincial government.

“The government is controlling negotiations at all those bargaining tables, and they’re pushing the same narrative out to everybody and it’s really having a cooling, chilling effect on negotiations,” said Graham.

The government has made an offer of 7.5 per cent over four years, which Horner said aligns with the Conference Board of Canada’s findings that most working Albertans received a salary increase of two to three per cent in 2023 and 2024.

“Our opening offer has proposed increases that match numerous settlements AUPE has already agreed to. It is a wage offer that the AUPE has recommended to their members employed by municipalities and in extended health care with contracts extending to 2026. In light of this, it’s confusing to see the narrative AUPE’s president, Guy Smith, is trying to create through his rallies, suggesting his members are facing ‘disrespect’ in collective bargaining,” said Horner.

Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour, weighed in on the matter on X:

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READ MORE

• AUPE extends rally cry to outside Red Deer Regional Hospital
• 100 Red Deer Polytechnic non-academic staff vote to join 400 others in AUPE
• AUPE to hold province-wide bargaining town halls

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