EDMONTON – Members of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees on strike against Extendicare (Canada) Inc.’s continuing care facility in Athabasca will gather Thursday at the headquarters of the Aspen Regional Health Authority in Westlock.

The event will take place from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., as the health region’s monthly board meeting gets under way. Strikers will attend the public meeting after rallying outside.

AUPE President Dan MacLennan criticized the Aspen health region for its role in the strike.
"Extendicare runs this facility on contract for the Aspen health region," said MacLennan. "The region has the power to tell this employer to act reasonably and negotiate a fair collective agreement with this small group of women.

"It is blatantly unfair that people doing the same work at other regional facilities in the same community, and at other Extendicare facilities in nearby communities, should be earning $2 or more per hour," MacLennan said.

"We expect the region to act responsibly and press Extendicare to come back to the table with a reasonable offer," he stated.

The 32 women employed at the Athabasca facility have been on strike since Feb. 11. Extendicare – a multinational health care corporation based in the Toronto area that recorded $1.8 billion in revenue in 2000 – has been using management staff from other facilities and other strikebreakers to run the Athabasca facility.

AUPE is prepared to return to the table at any time to negotiate a reasonable agreement, said AUPE Union representative Steve Nimchuk.


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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