The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees says Alberta Health Services has presented General Support Services (GSS) workers with a four per cent wage cut.
AHS brought forward the cut to the AUPE AHS GSS bargaining team on Thursday as negotiations started again, after being put on hold earlier in the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the AUPE.
The four per cent cut would be applied immediately after ratifying the new agreement, followed by three years of zero per cent increases, the AUPE said in a news release Thursday night.
“It is indecent and obscene,” AUPE vice-president Susan Slade said. “How dare they attack front-line health-care workers who are already stressed and beaten down because of the pandemic.”
AHS deferred comment on the issue to Finance Minister Travis Toews’ office. In a statement, Toews said:
“At a time when Alberta has $93 billion in debt, the focus has to be on the long-term fiscal health of the province, as well as the health of Albertans.
“We must control our spending — and that includes public sector compensation,” Toews said.
“Yesterday at the negotiating table, AUPE asked AHS for a five per cent increase in salaries over the next two years. That represents $105 million to the Alberta taxpayer. This follows a demand for a four per cent raise over two years by UNA (United Nurses of Alberta.)
“Albertans pay more than most Canadians for public services — including health care.”
Toews said his proposal is fair, reasonable and in the best interest of all Albertans.
“AHS is offering job security to employees in exchange for the one-time wage reduction. This is a fair and equitable trade,” he stated.
“AHS is meeting with AUPE later today to continue negotiations. I’m confident both parties can work together to reach a fair and equitable settlement that respects the fiscal situation of the province.”
GSS workers include those who work in cleaning and environmental services, food services, laundry, lab work, protective services, supply chain and purchasing, as well as long-term care.
This is the same group of workers who staged a wildcat strike last fall, to protest the government’s plan to privatize laundry services and cut upwards of 11,000 jobs.
NDP health critic David Shepherd said the four per cent proposed cut is “utterly unconscionable.”
“These folks were on the front lines. These were the folks that were changing the sheets for COVID patients, that were cleaning the rooms and the floors to keep the families and the patients and the staff safe. They were preparing the meals,” he said.
“And now the premier turns to them and says, ‘Thank you for your service. Give us four per cent back.’
“These workers are frustrated, they’re exhausted and now they’re feeling demoralized.”
Shepherd said if the cuts come down to reducing debt, the premier should not have spent $1.3 billion on the now-defunct Keystone XL oil pipeline.
“The premier has many, many areas where he has chosen to gamble and waste Alberta’s tax dollars. For him to then turn to our front-line health-care workers who got us through this pandemic and say, ‘You are going to pay for my mistakes,’ and to try to attack and vilify them, it’s unacceptable.”
The union said when the sides originally entered bargaining in February 2020, AHS proposed a one per cent wage cut.
“The only way to stop them is to fight back. We’re going to give our all to protect AUPE members and the Albertans who rely on the services they provide,” Slade said.
The AUPE is Alberta’s largest union with more than 95,000 members, approximately 11,000 of which are GSS.
Earlier this month it was revealed that AHS is asking nurses to take a three per cent wage cut to help control spending. The province’s health provider is asking for the pay cut as part of ongoing contract negotiations with the UNA.
At the time, Finance Minister Travis Toews said the province needs to get its finances ‘back on track” as it moves beyond the pandemic.
Comments