EDMONTON – With a provincial budget surplus of well over $700 million expected to be announced Tuesday, it is clear Alberta can afford to give fair pay increases to its health and education workers, says the president of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees.

AUPE is currently in negotiations for new contracts for more than 19,000 workers in the health services sector and well over 4,000 employees of educational institutions throughout Alberta, said Dan MacLennan.

While some of those negotiations have not yet dealt with monetary issues, some have proven difficult on that key point, he said.

"Obviously the funds are available to treat these important members of our province’s heath care and educational systems in a balanced and fair manner," MacLennan said.

"We have been particularly concerned by the offers put forward by some employer negotiators that pay increases of two-per-cent a year are appropriate in these economic times," MacLennan said.
"AUPE members who deliver front-line nursing care, mental health services, and other health care services in all 17 health regions, and who do vital work at the University of Calgary, the University of Lethbridge, NorQuest College, Bow Valley College and other education facilities all over the province, deserve better than that," he stated.

"When it reported the budget surplus last week, the Calgary Herald said that ‘fiscal good times are back in Alberta,’" MacLennan added. "We agree, and we don’t think our members should be made to pay for ‘bad times’ that don’t exist."

Health care and educational employers need to do the responsible thing and push the province to provide the funds they require to treat their employees fairly, he concluded.

The Alberta government’s annual report, containing the final details of the province’s annual surplus, will be made public at the Legislature in Edmonton Tuesday morning.

Dan MacLennan will be available for interviews at the Legislature at that time.

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

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