Alberta public sector workers rally to ‘send message to the government’

Hundreds of Alberta’s public sector workers rallied outside Foothills Hospital on Saturday in hopes of getting a message to the province to get a “fair collective agreement in the midst collective bargaining.

Talks are underway for new collective agreement between the province and the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE). However, AUPE executive vice-president Bonnie Gostola says those negotiations have stalled.

“They are very intent on getting a fair collective agreement and actually demanding a little more respect for the work that we do every single day for Albertans,” she says.

The union, which represents more than 95,000 members, says many of them have been without a collective agreement since earlier this year.

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It’s looking for a resolution to staffing issues and pensions. It also wants a 26-per cent pay bump over three years, but the province offered 7.5 per cent over four years.

“(It’s) quite frankly an insult,” says Gostola.

“Our members have been taking zeros for 10-plus years, zeros and one per cent. That is barely keeping up and actually well behind what is the cost of inflation now a days,” she added.

In a statement, Alberta minister of finance Nate Horner says 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.

“We must remain competitive with other public sector settlements across Canada that have achieved market-based compensation.”

The statement goes on to say that the government’s offer “aligns with the Conference Board of Canada’s findings that most working Albertans received a salary increase between two and three per cent in 2023 and 2024.”

Rallies were also held in Edmonton and Red Deer on Saturday with a rally scheduled to Okotoks on Sunday and Taber next week.