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Draconian and punitive dues suspension is of concern to workers across Alberta 

Edmonton – Elected labour leaders representing more than 160,000 workers throughout Alberta are worried about the implications of draconian punitive measures being taken against the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE).

The presidents of the Health Sciences Association of Alberta (HSAA), the United Nurses of Alberta (UNA), United Food and Commercial Workers Local 401 (UFCW 401) and the Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL) spoke out against the punitive measures being taken against the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees. After a four-day-long wildcat strike, the union agreed to pay $450,000 in fines, only to have additional punitive measures brought forward by the province. The province announced on Wednesday that they would have AUPE’s dues withheld as a result of the strike.

“Every crisis presents opportunities and this situation is no different. The government could have addressed the workers’ legitimate safety concerns in a timely and balanced manner. This would have improved the important relationship between a government and these workers,” AFL president Gil McGowan said. “But that opportunity has been squandered by threats, intimidation and now specter of punitive measures against the union. As a result, labour relations are worse now than they were before the strike.”

The labour leaders expressed their support of the worker’s health and safety concerns that led to the strike, and the importance of protecting a worker’s right to refuse unsafe work. The unions announced plans to create a fund to help AUPE pay the onerous financial burden of having their members’ dues withheld.

“Going after the entire union’s dues are unwise if the government wants to maintain a good relationship with its workers,” McGowan said “It creates a disincentive for a quick and reasonable resolution of conflicts. If the resolution of these kinds of job action results in punishment, then they’ll never get resolved because it will only mean more fines and more hostility.”

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MEDIA CONTACTS:

Olav Rokne, AFL Communications Director at 780-289-6528 (cell) or via email [email protected].

Two federal ministers yesterday jointly announced changes in the controversial Temporary Foreign Worker Program, including a "temporary suspension" of the Accelerated Labour Market Opinion program criticized by labour leaders.

But one high profile labour leader described the announced changes as "simply public relations."

Gil McGowan, head of the Alberta Federation of Labour told CBC news after the Ottawa announcements that "the Harper government has blinked, but it hasn't backed down."

McGowan and his federation hold a thick file of Accelerated Labour Market Opinions they gained by filing Freedom of Information requests to the Human Resources and Skills Development Canada. They say it demonstrates deep flaws in the process that allows companies to hire foreign workers ahead of Canadians who might expect to be paid more or have more flexibility to resist poor working conditions.

The 93 page document lists 4,839 employers across Canada approved to use the Accelerated Labour Market Opinion (ALMO) initiative in getting government permission to bring temporary workers into Canada from offshore. Although the ALMO program was described, when it was launched last April as applying to "employers hiring temporary foreign workers in higher skilled positions such as: management, professional and technical occupations," union researchers who have examined the document say that more than half the employers cited (often in the fast food, restaurant, hospitality and farming sectors) seem unlikely to require many foreign professionals and experts.

B.C. had the highest rate of employers using the ALMO fast track rated as "questionable" by researchers, with 628, or 65 per cent of the employers listed seen as dubious.

Labour organizations in B.C. and Alberta want the Auditor General to investigate.

Progam is 'discredited': BCFED's Sinclair

Canada's procedures for bringing temporary foreign workers into the country have attracted public scrutiny and criticism for the limited rights they accord agricultural workers and for recent scandals involving Canadian workers at the Royal Bank of Canada being required to train foreign workers who will take their jobs and for corporate attempts to bring Chinese miners into the country to dig B.C. coal.

The Temporary Foreign Worker Program, which has been greatly expanded since the Conservatives took power in 2006, "is discredited, and has lost public support," president Jim Sinclair of the BC Federation of Labour told The Tyee. "Since they came to power the Conservatives have been turning on the tap. Before then there was a very modest program that brought in actors, musicians and medical professionals, but now all of the top five categories of foreign workers being brought in are low skilled.

Sinclair says the latest Freedom of Information "revelations about the ALMO initiative demonstrate why the program is broken. It needs to be scrapped or reformed to return it to its original intentions. What we have in Canada isn't a worker shortage. It's a wage shortage. We shouldn't be turning Canada into a cheap labour zone."

In an opinion piece published in the Toronto Star on April 16, Canadian Labour Congress president Ken Georgetti agrees. "Today," he writes, "companies are employing nearly 340,000 migrant workers -- more than our annual intake of permanent newcomers. Between 2007 and 2011, 30 per cent of all net new jobs in Canada went to migrant workers -- during a period of high unemployment in this country. This is a concern. If employers need migrant workers to do jobs year after year, then let's admit it is not a temporary situation."

In 2009, Georgetti notes, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced that his department would publish online a list of employers found to be flouting the rules and they would be subject to sanctions. Four years later, he said, that "bad-boss" website doesn't contain a single name of a single company.

Kenney, along with Canada's minister of human resources, Diane Finley, made the announcement of program reforms yesterday (see sidebar).

'Lipstick on a pig'

But the Alberta Federation of Labour's McGowan told the CBC that that while a few of the announced changes marked small improvements, in balance the government was engaging in a public relations exercise, and in some instances, lying outright. McGowan said that when the ministers said that most temporary foreign workers were not being paid less than Canadian workers currently, the statement was "simply a lie." The program, even if the announced changes are fully implemented, will remain a "low wage program that exerts a structural downward pressure on wages," McGowan said.

"What the ministers did today," the visibly angry labour leader said, "was try to put lipstick on a pig."

Even Canada's top banker, Mark Carney, hardly a spokesperson for organized labour, has recently spoken out about the dangers of temporary foreign worker programs. The head of the Bank of Canada, soon to leave for a new posting in the UK, told a Parliamentary committee on April 23, according to the Globe and Mail, that the main purpose of the foreign worker program should be to help companies fill high-skill jobs for which there simply are too few Canadians who are adequately trained.

The program also should fill "temporary gaps" in the labour market, but avoid creating incentives for companies to avoid training Canadian workers, Carney said.

He added that the government must guard against abuse; otherwise, the effect will be to put downward pressure on wages, which in turn leaves companies with an excuse to avoid becoming more productive because they can keep up with demand by hiring cheap labour.

Fast food outlets prominent on 'accelerated' list

B.C. employers listed on the government document of ALMO users include McDonald's, Tim Horton's, Domino's Pizza, Burger King and smaller operations such as Solly's Bakery and Maurya Indian cuisine. Several of the employers appear to be blueberry farmers, despite the government statement when the initiative was launched that it would not apply to agricultural workers or workers in the film industry.

Several mining firms, including Goldcorp Inc., Teck Coal Ltd and the Western Coal Corporation are listed, as are the Big White Ski Resort and Sun Peaks. A few public bodies like health authorities and universities are also listed as ALMO employers, as well as Vancouver retail icons Lululemon and Mountain Equipment Co-op.

Margaret Wheeler, senior vice president at Lululemon, told The Tyee that her firm employs 102 workers from offshore, of which 75 were hired through federal temporary foreign worker programs. Lululemon was not able to provide detail on how many of these 75 workers entered under the new ALMO option before this story was filed, but estimated about 50 of the workers were covered by the new fast track arrangement.

The Mountain Equipment Co-op, meanwhile, told The Tyee that it had only used the ALMO option once this year, to hire a U.S. design and merchandise planning expert. Tim Southam, who speaks for the co-op, emphasized that MEC does not hire front line retail staff through the temporary foreign worker program.

Tim Horton's 'strong track record'

Many of the other listed ALMO employers did not respond to Tyee requests for comment, but Alexandra Cygall, who speaks for Tim Horton's, did reply by email. She told The Tyee that:

"The Accelerated-Labour Market Opinion is offered to employers with a strong track record in the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, such as Tim Horton's, in order for us to hire high-skill workers to fill positions of Supervisors and Managers. These individuals often have many years of industry experience and education within the restaurant and hospitality industries and are crucial to our business. Every Tim Horton's restaurant requires at least four supervisors and one manager to handle our 24/7 business.

Tim Horton's and our restaurant owners have been hiring Temporary Foreign Workers since 2005, mostly in areas where there is a shortage of labour such as the West. Our owners turn to the temporary foreign worker program after they have exhausted all other avenues to fill job vacancies locally. Without this employment program, many Tim Horton's restaurants would not be able to operate full time or, in many cases, remain open at all."

Cygal said she was unable to tell The Tyee how many foreign workers Tim Horton's had imported because individual restaurant franchise owners did their own hiring. Similarly, Barry Longhodge, speaking for Domino's Pizza, said that the parent company at Domino's had not done any ALMO hiring itself and was unaware of whether any franchise holders in BC had hired using the new fast track program.

John Gibson, who speaks for McDonalds, told The Tyee that nationally, his firm employs just over 2,000 "international recruits," who represent 2.5 per cent of the company's 80,000 Canadian employees. Most of these, he said, are sourced through temporary foreign worker programs, but he was unable to specify how many of the 2,000 were procured using the new accelerated option. In an April 26 email, Gibson told The Tyee that:

"Our priority is always to hire local employees in every one of our more than 1,400 restaurants nationwide, however, in recent years, tight labour conditions in some markets require that we recruit abroad to ensure we're able to continue to offer the level of service our customers have come to expect from us. This labour shortage is not unique to the food-service industry. We make every effort to hire locally before undertaking international recruiting. Just this past April, we held our third National Hiring Day -- which is a major component to our recruiting practices -- and hired over 5,700 new employees."

Audit ALMO say labour leaders

McGowan, the president of the Alberta labour central that commissioned the research into the ALMO initiative, is sceptical. In a press release, the labour leader says.

"You look down this list, and it's McDonalds, Tim Horton's, A&W, Subway Sandwiches. Are we supposed to believe that these are 'high-skill' employment opportunities?"

McGowan is calling on the Auditor General of Canada, Michael Ferguson, to conduct a complete audit of the ALMO process, a demand that the BC Federation of Labour Jim Sinclair told The Tyee that he supports.

CHANGES TO TFWP ANNOUNCED YESTERDAY

Speaking at a press conference in Ottawa on Monday, April 29, Ministers Kenney and Finley announced changes in their government's embattled temporary foreign worker programs. The changes, they said, would:

- Effective immediately, require employers to pay temporary foreign workers at the prevailing wage by removing the existing wage flexibility;

- Effective immediately, temporarily suspend the Accelerated Labour Market Opinion process;

- Increase the Government's authority to suspend and revoke work permits and Labour Market Opinions (LMOs) if the program is being misused;

- Add questions to employer LMO applications to ensure that the TFWP is not used to facilitate the outsourcing of Canadian jobs;

- Ensure employers who rely on temporary foreign workers have a firm plan in place to transition to a Canadian workforce over time through the LMO process;

- Introduce fees for employers for the processing of LMOs and increase the fees for work permits so that the taxpayers are no longer subsidizing the costs;

- Identify English and French as the only languages that can be used as a job requirement.

— T.S.

The Tyee, Tuesday, Apr. 30, 2013
Byline: Tom Sandborn

OTTAWA — Changes to the ailing temporary foreign worker program unveiled Monday are little more than an admission of error and fall short of the massive overhaul the Conservative government promised, critics say.

The federal government announced it was dropping the confusing and seldom used 15-per-cent wage differential for foreign workers introduced in the last budget and temporarily suspending a controversial fast-track process brought in a year ago as a means of improving the program.

Effective immediately, employers will have to pay temporary foreign workers the prevailing regional wage average Canadian workers doing the same job earn because a plan to build in flexibility to account for experience and performance didn't work.

The Accelerated Labour Market Opinion process introduced last year to speed up the issuing of work permits was meant to better meet labour market demand in high-skill fields. Now, that too will be suspended pending a review of the program to make sure it's not being used to fill low-skill service jobs at, for example, Tim Hortons.

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney and Human Resources parliamentary secretary Kellie Leitch made the announcement shortly after the government introduced its budget implementation bill.

"We are concerned about examples of the program not being used as intended. Canadians must always have the first crack at available jobs in our economy," Kenney said.

"The temporary foreign worker program was intended to fill acute labour shortages on a temporary basis only, not to displace Canadian workers."

A total of seven changes were introduced Monday. They include regulatory and administrative reforms as well as legislative changes contained in the budget that require the approval of Parliament.

Critics, however, argued the two key measures are simply a reversal of earlier mistakes.

"This is not the first time, as you know, that the Conservatives have said that they wanted to fix the program. Twice already they said that they were going to do that but then made things even worse," NDP human resources critic Chris Charlton said.

The NDP and other critics have complained the wage differential ultimately drove down wages and working conditions.

Charlton said the new measures don't address the need to recruit, hire and train Canadians first or the need for better labour-market information. There's also nothing in it to address unfair treatment and the rights of workers, she said, adding a comprehensive review is needed.

"The reality is, they have made an absolute mess of the temporary foreign worker program," she said.

"What we really need is a proper study with outside experts to make sure we get it right this time."

Liberal human resources critic Rodger Cuzner added the government may be "trying to sell this announcement as new reforms" but the truth is that it's simply promising to enforce rules that already exist.

Worse, it's "an embarrassing reversal" of changes the Harper government introduced in recent years, he said, adding he will introduce a motion asking a Commons committee to study the program.

The Alberta Federation of Labour, meanwhile, released a report Monday that found three out of four jobs created in the provinces over the last few years have been filled by temporary foreign workers instead of Canadians. When 8,600 jobs were lost in 2010, the province still admitted some 23,000 foreign workers, president Gil McGowan said.

He said the program is "not filling a need" but is "flooding the market," that it's become the "a first choice for employers rather than a last resort." McGowan added that the food-services industry has become a "low wage ghetto" in booming Alberta, where seniors looking to earn a little extra cash and teenagers looking for their first job are paying the price.

"It's clear at least in the province of Alberta that the program is being used to displace Canadians from employment, it's being used as a tool to suppress wages and it's giving employers and excuse to abdicate their responsibility to train the next generation of Canadians," he said, adding it's affecting construction trades as well as the service industry.

Among measures introduced Monday is a plan to boost the government's authority to suspend or revoke work permits and labour-market opinions, the latter of which pave the way for work permits to be issued where there is a genuine shortage of Canadian workers.

In the wake of a recent instance in which Royal Bank of Canada employees found themselves training temporary foreign workers to take over their jobs, the government said it will add new questions to employer applications to ensure the program isn't being used to outsource Canadian jobs.

The reforms are in addition to several already laid out in the 2013 budget.

Employers will also need to broaden the length and reach of job postings and produce a plan for transitioning to a Canadian workforce over time when applying for permits under the program.

New user fees for employers seeking to hire temporary foreign workers are also expected to offset costs currently absorbed by taxpayers.

The government is also taking steps to amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations so that companies cannot make knowledge of a language other than French or English a requirement when hiring through the temporary foreign worker process.

"These changes will strengthen and improve the temporary foreign worker program to support our economic growth and recovery," Leitch said.

While agricultural employers could see permits revoked if companies are found to have misused the program, seasonal agricultural workers will otherwise be unaffected by the reforms.

An ongoing review of the program that began in fall 2011 will continue and more reforms are expected this fall, following a second round of consultations with businesses, trade organizations, unions and other stakeholders.

Ottawa Citizen, Tuesday, Apr. 30, 2013
Byline: Tobi Cohen, PostMedia News

EDMONTON – The widespread wildcat strike that started last week with guards at Edmonton's Remand Centre and spread to facilities throughout the province took a dramatic turn Monday night.

After hearing hours of arguments from both sides, a Court of Queen's Bench justice found the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees in contempt of court for defying an earlier Alberta Labour Board ruling ordering its members back to work.

Justice J.D. Rooke fined the union $100,000, saying that rises to $250,000 if the strike isn't over by noon Tuesday. By Wednesday at noon, it will be $500,000 — and the union must pay half a million dollars for each day after that.

Meanwhile, the labour board also issued granted a cease and desist order to the province that ordered all union public sector workers who walked out in support of the guards to return to their jobs.

The government went to the courts after some provincial sheriffs, court clerks and social workers picketed outside courthouses in Edmonton, Calgary, Lethbridge and other communities in solidarity with jail guards, who were off the job at 10 correctional facilities.

The job action by sheriffs and staff forced the postponement of some family court cases and delayed some trials and other court proceedings.

The illegal walkout began Friday after two guards at the massive new $580-million Edmonton Remand Centre were suspended when they complained about safety at the facility, which started taking inmates for the first time earlier this month.

Deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk said the government won't deal with the union's safety concerns at the jail until the guards go back to work.

Lukaszuk blamed the dispute on a personal conflict between a union official at the jail and some of his supervisors.

"This illegal strike by AUPE, frankly, I have tell you, is irresponsible and it is causing Albertans a great deal of grief," he said.

"A great deal of this unrest is caused simply by someone not liking their boss. This is simply unacceptable."

The government estimates the strike is costing the government more than $1.5 million per day to pay for RCMP and other police to staff Alberta's jails.

Todd Ross, the chairman of the union local representing guards at the remand centre, said it is the safety conditions at the jail that are unacceptable.

Ross said 800 inmates were moved into the new jail over a two-day period from other remand centres, which was too many too fast.

He said glass in the facility is breakable, there aren't enough video monitoring cameras and not enough officers are issued with pepper spray.

"This is all about occupational health and safety concerns," said Ross, who has been a corrections officer for 28 years.

"It is a life and death situation. We need to get some meaningful talks going with this government."

The union didn't want to comment on Monday night's developments until they had been studied.

"We need to evaluate it (the directive) very carefully and consider our legal options," said AUPE president Guy Smith.

Earlier in the evening, there had been reports on Twitter that Lukaszuk and Smith had been spotted together talking over a drink.

Defence lawyer Deborah Hatch said the already burdened court system can't operate properly with the disruptions posed by the strike. She said the clerk who was to staff a trial she was to be involved in Monday was out on the picket line.

"It is absolutely not business as usual. There are jury trials that are supposed to start this morning. There are other types of trials in provincial court and Court of Queen's Bench. We don't have the people to function," said Hatch, former president of the Edmonton Criminal Trial Lawyers Association.

"Even one day of this will bring this system really to its knees."

Just days before the Edmonton Remand Centre opened, the union said it found five pages of design flaws after touring the facility. Union leaders asked the province to delay the transfer of prisoners from the old remand centre until changes were made.

The Alberta government said the facility was deemed safe by occupational health inspectors.

Lukaszuk said the union has presented a list of 10 demands that must be met before the guards will return to work, but he said health and safety is only one of the items on the list.

He said the union is in the middle of collective bargaining and he suggested it might be using the strike as a pressure tactic.

Smith said that isn't true.

"This has nothing to do with contract negotiations," Smith said. "This has everything to do with health and safety for the correctional police officers on the front lines."

Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour, called on Premier Alison Redford to get involved to help resolve the dispute.

McGowan said the union's safety concerns should have been dealt with properly by the government weeks or months ago.

He accused Lukaszuk of using bullying tactics instead of properly managing the situation.

"We need cooler heads to prevail, and that is not going to happen as long as a hot-head like Thomas Lukaszuk is involved in the process," McGowan said.

Government officials said Premier Alison Redford has been fully briefed on the illegal strike and the walkouts by other public sector union members, but will not be directly involved in the dispute.

Metro, Monday, Apr. 29, 2013
Byline: John Cotter, Canadian Press

8,600 jobs lost in 2010, but government approves whopping 22,992 TFW positions

Edmonton – Over the past four years, Alberta has brought in thousands more temporary foreign workers (TFWs) than jobs created.

In a new report, the Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL) compares the number of new jobs created in municipalities throughout the province to the number of temporary foreign workers arriving each year. There is no correlation; thousands of temporary foreign worker permits are being granted to businesses in good times, in bad times, and even when the economy is shedding jobs.

“The temporary foreign worker program has to be scrapped,” AFL president Gil McGowan said. “Employers are clearly turning to it as a first-choice so they can hire people who have fewer legal protections, can be paid less than their Canadian counterparts, and who can be kicked out of the country if they make a fuss.”

The report, titled “From Last Resort to First Choice,” shows that throughout Alberta during the recession, the economy lost 8,600 jobs in 2010, but the government approved the hiring of 22,992 TFWs. In the big city, the situation was a bit worse, with the economy shedding 13,000 jobs in Edmonton and Calgary, but 12,995 TFWs arriving in 2010.

“Canada needs immigration — but this program isn’t immigration, it’s exploitation,” McGowan said. “Canada’s immigration system needs to be expanded and made accessible to lower-skilled immigrants. And people arriving in Canada to work should be treated the same as any other Canadians. But the TFW program gives them second-class status, and makes them beholden to employers.”

Medicine Hat may have fared worst over the past four years, shedding more than 10,000 jobs, while more TFWs arrived. Throughout the province, thousands of work permits for TFWs were issued for very small rural centres and towns in Alberta.

“It’s difficult for someone to put down roots in a community if they’re defined as temporary,” McGowan said. “They’re not going to gain long-term wage improvements from seniority, and this keeps standards down for all low-wage workers.”

“When employers get easy access to vulnerable groups of lower paid workers, wages and benefits don’t have to keep pace with economic growth,” McGowan said. “The Conservative government talks a big game about free markets, but they’re more than willing to meddle with the market when it comes to driving down wages.”

Under the Conservative government of Stephen Harper, the TFW program has doubled in size, and has become a business subsidy that lets frequent users avoid increasing wages to attract workers or to invest in training.

This research clearly shows that jobs are being lost, and yet government is approving thousands of TFW permits for greedy employers who would rather not pay what the market demands.

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MEDIA CONTACTS:

Gil McGowan, President, Alberta Federation of Labour at 780-218-9888 (cell)
Olav Rokne, AFL Communications Director at 780-289-6528 (cell) or via email [email protected].

2013 ltr to Hon Lukaszuk_Remand Centre Strike

AFL urges premier to address health and safety concerns of workers so situation can be resolved

Edmonton – Alberta’s largest labour group, representing 160,000 workers, is urging the premier to negotiate in good faith with striking prison workers.

In a statement released today, the Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL) said that the wildcat strike at Alberta’s prisons was spinning out of control because of the government’s intransigence toward legitimate worker concerns.

“The government needs to stop focusing on bullying workers and start focusing on their legitimate concerns about health and safety,” AFL president Gil McGowan said. “If they do that, this situation will be resolved.”

The Federation expressed solidarity with the workers at the new $580-million Remand Centre, who have been raising health and safety concerns for several months leading up to the strike. What started as a walkout by 70 workers has escalated with strikes at 10 provincial facilities, and hundreds of workers multiple unions staying out of the prisons due to deteriorating conditions, and out-of-control inmates.

“Quite frankly, the deputy premier shouldn’t be grandstanding about how he won’t negotiate,” McGowan said. “It’s not productive, it’s not going to resolve this issue, and it’s not in the public interest.”

At noon on Saturday, more than 500 Alberta Federation of Labour members representing 29 affiliated unions marched on the Alberta Labour Relations Board (ALRB) in an impromptu demonstration of solidarity with the prison workers.

“These workers did the brave thing, the right thing for demanding a safe workplace,” Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan said. “And the government has responded by trying to silence them, telling them to put themselves in unnecessary risk, and telling them it’s not even something they’re willing to talk about.”

Letter to Deputy Premier Lukaszuk

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MEDIA CONTACTS:

Gil McGowan, President, Alberta Federation of Labour at 780-218-9888 (cell)
Olav Rokne, AFL Communications Director at 780-289-6528 (cell) or via email [email protected].

Well-known Tory pollster criticizes anti-labour Harper government

Edmonton – The defence of reason makes strange bedfellows.

Well-known Canadian pundit and Tory pollster Allan Gregg will speak at the Alberta Federation of Labour’s 48^th constitutional convention, delivering a talk titled “1984 in 2013: the Assault on Reason.” The talk, in which Gregg which takes aim at the anti-intellectual policies of the federal government, will take place in Salons 8-11 in the Shaw Conference Centre.

“I have spent my entire professional life as a researcher, dedicated to understanding the relationship between cause and effect. And I have to tell you, I’ve begun to see some troubling trends,” Gregg said. “It seems as though our government’s use of evidence and facts as the bases of policy is declining, and in their place, dogma, whim and political expediency are on the rise.”

The talk is the keynote speech of the AFL’s convention, and will be delivered to a packed convention hall of more than 500 union delegates. At the convention, attendees have debated how best to pace oil sands development, how to protect Alberta’s health care system, and how to fund public services.

“All of these topics depend on rational debate, factual information, and functioning democracy. That’s why the topic Allan Gregg is speaking about is so important,” AFL president Gil McGowan said. “We’re big fans of democracy around here. Allan is a great ally in the defence of democracy.”

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MEDIA CONTACTS:

Olav Rokne, AFL Communications Director at 780-289-6528 (cell) or via email [email protected].

Alberta's union movement is standing up for public transit

Edmonton – Hundreds of concerned Albertans and union members will rally today at noon at city hall in protest of privatization of the South East extension of the LRT, and demand accountability from City Council for the decision.

The decision, made by council earlier this year to privatize the operation and maintenance of the new line running from Millwoods into the downtown, was met with grave concern by supporters of public transit.

“This decision is not something Edmontonians will let slide. If city councillors think we haven’t noticed that they’ve opened the doors for further privatization of our public transit system, they’re wrong. And we’re here today to make sure they listen” said Gil McGowan, President of the Alberta Federation of Labour which represents 160,000 workers across the province.

A recent Environics poll revealed 64 per cent of people surveyed disagree that turning over operations of the southeast LRT to a private corporation is the correct decision. With municipal election campaigns gearing up in just a few weeks workers of Alberta have decided to come together and with one voice send a strong message against P3s.

The rally will be held in front of city hall starting at noon on Friday, April 26, 2013.

Speakers will include:

Gil McGowan of the Alberta Federation of Labour
Marle Roberts and Mike Scott from CUPE
Stu Litwinowich from ATU 569
Deron Bilous from the Alberta NDP

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MEDIA CONTACTS:

Olav Rokne, AFL Communications Director at 780-289-6528 (cell) or via email [email protected].

2013 Backgrounder_Labour Code Lobbying