Another Alberta union rejects province’s request for more bargaining delays

The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees says its nursing care members and general support workers in health care have rejected a request from the province’s health delivery agency to extend a delay on contract talks until the end of June.

The union says in an update on its website that it told Alberta Health Services it wants to get back to the bargaining table.

It explains the union agreed to a delay back in January in order to get job security, as well as access to COVID-19 isolation pay and other benefits for nurses.

Finance Minister Travis Toews calls the union’s decision “disappointing” in a news release and claims the union was turning down pandemic supports and protections for its workers.

Toews accused the union of wanting AHS to shift its focus away from the pandemic to their labour demands.

Also this week, United Nurses of Alberta, which represents registered nurses, served notice that it, too, wants to return to bargaining after agreeing to delays in order to focus on the pandemic.