For immediate release: Feb. 17, 2003

EDMONTON – When the government gets down to business with a new sitting of the Legislature tomorrow, it needs to remember the importance of some business that is not on its legislative agenda, says the president of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees.

"Albertans know what the government’s legislative agenda is going to be during this session," AUPE President Dan MacLennan said Monday. "But they also need to be assured that the province will deal responsibly with other important items of regular business during the session."

One item that should be at the top of the government’s priority list should be the assurance that necessary mental health services will continue to be available to citizens that need them despite the reorganization now under way.
Just five weeks remain until the services of the Alberta Mental Health Board are supposed to be transferred to the nine new health regions, yet it remains unclear how that will happen or how the services will be provided by the regions, MacLennan said.

"The seniority of our members who work for the AMHB, and their contractual rights and legal entitlements, are a major concern," MacLennan said. "It’s likely this issue is going to come to the fore during this session of the Legislature.

"It’s important for our members, for their clients and for all Albertans, that the government treat these front-line employees fairly and assure Albertans that vital services will continue to be provided," he said.

Negotiations for new wages for all direct employees of the provincial government will also get under way during the legislative session, and it’s important that the government also treat its own employees fairly, MacLennan said.
"In recent months, inflation has been much higher than was expected when we negotiated the last collective agreement with the province," MacLennan said. "Now we’re about to negotiate a wage re-opener in the final year of the collective agreement.

"It’s very important that government employees 2003 pay increases reflect what’s really going on in the Alberta economy," he concluded.

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)