EDMONTON – The Redford government wants to temporarily suspend the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees’ ability to collect union dues on the heels of an illegal five-day strike.
According to the Alberta Labour Relations Board, the government notified AUPE through a grievance that it intends to stop deducting union dues. Under the Public Service Employee Relations Act, the employer can notify a union after a strike that it intends to stop collecting dues for one to six months as a punitive measure.
Tannis Brown, executive director of the labour board, said Wednesday that AUPE has filed an application asking for a ruling as to whether a strike took place, which means the government cannot take action until the board decides.
Striking correctional officers, sheriffs and court clerks began returning to work Wednesday morning after a wildcat strike that started Friday at the Edmonton Remand Centre. The union incurred a $350,000 fine Tuesday for defying an earlier back-to-work order, but members returned to work after receiving assurances safety concerns in the $580-million remand centre will be investigated.
Premier Alison Redford and deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk welcomed the return to work, but also said they will aggressively try to recover policing costs stemming from the strike. The government estimates it cost them $1.2 million a day to staff the province’s jails and courthouses.
“There is no reason why taxpayers of Alberta should be paying millions of dollars per day for an illegal strike that at the end of the day resulted with the same remedies,” Lukaszuk said in an interview on CHED’s The Rutherford Show. “It’s simply unacceptable. So we will be collecting from the union any and all costs resulting from this illegal walkout. But we have also been clear we will not seek remedies against individual members.”
Justice Minister Jonathan Denis is expected to speak to the government’s plans later Wednesday.
Brown said it is “very rare” for an employer to move to suspend union dues. The government’s application appears to apply broadly to all AUPE employees, she said, which is one issue the union is disputing.
The union’s application raises a range of concerns, she said, including an allegation that the notice of dues suspension did not give proper notice.
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