EDMONTON – Members of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees on strike against Extendicare (Canada) Inc.’s continuing care facility in Athabasca will gather Friday with supporters for a rally at Extendicare’s Edmonton offices.

The event will take place from noon to 4:30 p.m. on the street in front of the Ontario-based multinational corporation’s offices at 8657 – 51st Ave. in Edmonton.

Thirty women employed by the corporation have been on legal strike since Monday morning at 7 a.m. A key issue in the strike for a fair collective agreement is wage parity with other Extendicare employees at facilities in the same region, and other health care workers doing similar work in the same community.

At present, Extendicare employees in Athabasca are paid a starting salary more than $2 per hour less than that paid other Extendicare workers in nearby communities, and $2 less than AUPE members doing the same work in the Athabasca Health Centre.

"From the start, this company has taken an unfair, hardball attitude with this small group of women," said AUPE President Dan MacLennan. "We have wondered if they have imagined their activities will not be seen by the public because they’re taking place in a small community in northern Alberta.

"This is a wealthy, multinational, private health care company with revenue of $1.8 billion in 2000 taking on a group of 30 women and the residents they care for. They can well afford to pay these employees a living wage.

"We don’t intend to allow this important fight to take place out of sight of the public, which is why we are bringing the strikers – and their issues – to Edmonton."

The 30 women have been working without a contract since July 2000, and have gone without a raise since 1998, said AUPE Union Representative Steve Nimchuk.

"We are ready at any time to get back to the bargaining table," Nimchuk said. "This strike is doing no one any good. Our objective is to get a fair settlement."


For more information, contact:
Dan MacLennan, President, AUPE, 780-930-3301 or 780-910-8392 (cellular phone)
Steve Nimchuk, Union Representative, AUPE, 780-930-3341 or 780-919-4831 (cellular phone)
David Climenhaga, Communications Director, AUPE, 780-930-3311 or 780-717-2943 (cellular phone)

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