EDMONTON – The provincial government has filed a cease-and-desist order Monday with the Alberta Labour Relations Board for all striking union members in response to an ever-widening illegal strike that saw Alberta sheriffs, court clerks and social workers join correctional guards on the picket line.
“There’s a new cease-and-desist application that was filed at noon today,” said Aaron Padnivelan, labour relations officer with the LRB. “This is specifically in response to the walkout of those employees at the courthouses across the province.
Padnivelan said the new order was expanded to include all employees of the government who are members of or represented by the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees.
“We’ve issued notices of hearing and so we expect to have a hearing at six o’clock this evening,” Padnivelan said. “We will hear from the union and the employer, and any employees that want to show up regarding the illegal strike action.”
In addition, he said, the government has filed a contempt of court application against strikers who ignored the LRB’s back-to-work order issued Saturday. That application is set to be heard at the Edmonton courthouse at 4 p.m.
As the wildcat strike made for a chaotic scene at the Edmonton courthouse and led to the unscheduled adjournment of at least two trials, Alison Redford’s press secretary said the Alberta premier had no plans to comment publicly Monday on the illegal strike.
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Provincial social workers and some court clerks joined Alberta sheriffs and parole officers Monday in support of striking correctional workers, leaving the courts largely in the hands of managers and police.
“It’s absolutely not business as usual,” defence lawyer Deborah Hatch said. “There are jury trials that are supposed to start this morning, there are other types of trials in provincial court, in Court of Queen’s Bench, and we don’t have the people that we need to function. It won’t be business as usual, it can’t be.”
D’Arcy DePoe, president of the Criminal Trial Lawyers Association, said there have been numerous delays with inmate appearances, both in person and via closed-circuit television. He said he knew of at least two trials that were adjourned.
“Trials are simply being stood down because they don’t have personnel in the courtrooms. Some judges have been unwilling to even come into courtrooms without sheriffs,” DePoe said outside the courthouse.
He said the association doesn’t have all the facts regarding the situation at the Edmonton Remand Centre, “but I can say that the impact on the justice system has been significant and is only going to get worse.”
Redford’s press secretary, Neala Barton, said the premier is staying up to date on the growing strike and monitoring the situation, but wouldn’t comment Monday.
Deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk is taking the political lead on the issue for the government because he is leading the public service resource committee, which the Redford government formed to co-ordinate contract negotiations taking place in several ministries ranging from Education to Justice.
At the courthouse’s west and east entrances, long lineups developed as Edmonton city police, filling in for sheriffs, searched each bag by hand rather than using the X-ray machines. Police officers were also providing security in the courtrooms.
“The courtrooms that are absolutely necessary to carry on are being attended to,” said Insp. Lance Cranna, looking tense as he organized officers on the third floor.
Edmonton police spokesman Scott Pattison said about 40 officers requested by the provincial government are filling in for striking workers at the courthouse, handling security and inmate management. The officers were working overtime, he added.
Mayor Stephen Mandel said he has been told the province will reimburse the city for any extra costs run up by police dealing with remand centre security during the walkout.
Lawyers and Crown prosecutors have been told at least some of the accused are being transported to the courthouse by replacement staff.
A note inside the elevator said emergency protection orders and cases in the family law chambers would not be heard Monday.
About 100 people gathered outside the courthouse in the morning, after sheriffs voted Sunday to join the job action. Duties of sheriffs at the courthouse include taking prisoners to and from court appearances, providing courtroom security and operating the metal detectors at every entrance. About 50 social workers, protection workers and other front line workers also joined striking correction guards Monday morning, gathering outside the Edmonton Young Offender Centre.
Alberta sheriffs, as well as court clerks, administrative support staff and maintenance workers walked off the job at the Edmonton courthouse, because they “are sick and tired of not being listened to … in regards to health and safety concerns,” said Erez Raz, vice-president for the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees, and a correctional officer at the Edmonton Remand Centre.
The strike began Friday afternoon, when workers from the Edmonton Remand Centre walked off the job in response to the suspension of two correctional officers the union says had been raising health and safety concerns. The wildcat strike prompted officers at Fort Saskatchewan Correctional Centre to walk off the job as well, and the movement soon spread to correctional facilities across the province in Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Calgary, Red Deer and Peace River.
On Sunday, Lukaszuk made it clear the government’s plan is to refuse any negotiations until officers return to work and hope the union position weakens with workers crossing the picket lines. The province began handing out court orders on the weekend to order individual officers back to work, but Lukaszuk said Sunday the government had not contemplated arrests or further legal action. Lukaszuk said the new $580-million remand centre was inspected multiple times and given full endorsement by Alberta Health Services staff, who are also AUPE members, and that the strike “has little to do with occupational health and safety.”
The union disputed that claim Monday, calling it “completely false.” Its health and safety representative, Dennis Malayko, said in a statement that the union still hasn’t received a safety assessment of the Edmonton Remand Centre.
“We continue to wait for more details. If it did receive a 100-per cent clean bill of health, I’d be shocked,” Malayko said.
Union members received a hazard assessment of the centre in early April and “that’s when we filed our occupational health and safety complaint with the province because a majority of the issues we identified were not addressed at all,” Malayko added.
Wildrose Justice critic Shayne Saskiw said he was concerned the labour situation was becoming more unstable and that vital services were being harmed. “The deputy premier had indicated that the strike was dissipating and what’s being demonstrated is he doesn’t have a good grasp of what’s happening on the ground,” Saskiw said.
Though Lukaszuk vowed Sunday to halt talks with the AUPE until striking workers abide by the Labour Relations Board order to get back to work, Saskiw said provincial officials need to sit down with union leaders to negotiate an end to the strike. Saskiw said he believes the front-line Edmonton Remand Centre workers he has talked to have genuine safety concerns.
“It is time now for the deputy premier to throw his ego out of the way and at least open the channels of communication,” said Saskiw, MLA for Lac La Biche-St. Paul-Two Hills. “If there are legitimate and verifiable facts dealing with safety concerns that can be appropriately addressed, they should be addressed. It’s one of these situations where completely shutting off communication isn’t going to make things better. It’s time for this government to start listening here.”
Saskiw also chastised Redford for not speaking publicly about the strike. “She has an obligation to communicate her position to Albertans, especially given the seriousness and the consequences of this ongoing strike,” he said. “It’s demonstrating a lack of leadership for her to stay quiet and not comment.”
With files from Ryan Cormier, Cailynn Klingbeil, Elise Stolte, Mariam Ibrahim, Jodie Sinnema
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