By Troy Gillard

18 unions join call

Alberta union leaders call for more COVID-19 measures, including lockdown

Nov 20, 2020 | 2:26 PM

Eighteen unions representing nearly 175,000 Alberta workers are calling on the province to adopt tougher measures to take on COVID-19.

A province-wide mask mandate, adoption of the federal COVID-19 notification app and a ‘circuit-breaker’ lockdown are some of the demands included in the COVID-19 Crisis Resolution, drafted by the Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL).

United Nurses of Alberta, Health Science Association of Alberta, Canadian Union of Public Employees and the United Food and Commercial Workers also among the unions that have signed off on the document.

An aggressive “crush and contain” strategy, similar to Atlantic Canada’s “bubble” that has been successful at containing the rise in COVID-19 cases, is another one of the demands being made.

“Like a growing number of economists and policy experts, we unequivocally reject the notion, advanced by Premier Kenney and the UCP, that we have to choose between jobs and the economy, on one hand, and the health and safety of our fellow citizens, on the other,” AFL President Gil McGowan said in a statement.

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“This is a false dichotomy and a false choice. The reality is that both lives and livelihood are going to be lost if the government continues its policy of inaction. In our opinion, what the Premier and other members of the UCP caucus are doing amounts to nothing short of criminal negligence,” he added.

“They are leading our province over a cliff.”

Alberta reported its highest daily count of the pandemic yet on Thursday with 1,105 new cases of COVID-19.

There are now 10,382 confirmed active cases, with 4,388 infections in the Edmonton zone and 4,219 in the Calgary zone.

The province also announced eight more deaths, including six people linked to outbreaks at hospitals and care homes.