Bargaining Update: Wednesday, Sept. 8, 2004

Direct government employees’ agreement should reflect sacrifices and contributions, MacLennan says

EDMONTON — Members of AUPE’s General Service Bargaining Committee ended two days of meetings last week strongly committed to negotiating a new collective agreement that properly reflects the sacrifices and contributions of the provincial government’s direct employees.

“Alberta government employees deserve to see gains in this round of negotiations that reflect the sacrifices and the contributions they have made over more than a decade to help the government get the province’s financial house in order,” said AUPE President Dan MacLennan.

AUPE bargaining representatives will sit down with their provincial government counterparts on Sept. 22 to begin negotiating a new collective agreement for more than 19,000 direct employees of the government.

The General Service Bargaining Committee is expected to formally announce its starting position for a wage increase and other issues on that day, said senior Staff Negotiator Jim Petrie after two days of meetings with the GSBC at AUPE Headquarters in Edmonton Aug. 31 and Sept. 1.

The direct government employees’ contract expired on Aug. 31, but it will continue in force until a new collective agreement is reached and ratified.

The GSBC is scheduled to meet again in Edmonton for one day Sept. 14 to make final preparations for the beginning of negotiations.

The GSBC will put forward “fair and realistic” bargaining positions in this round of negotiations, Petrie said.
He said the sentiment at the Aug. 31 and Sept. 1 meetings was “very strong” that provincial employees now deserve recognition in their paycheques for the important role they play in Alberta’s very favourable current financial situation.

“The wage increase in this next collective agreement should take into account the fact that Alberta’s public employees have contributed in major ways to the soundness of the province’s business position during a period of great wealth,” Petrie said.

In addition to their roles running the province’s finances, and providing cost-effective public services, Petrie noted that provincial employees have tempered their demands for wage increases since the government cut public employees’ wages by five per cent in the 1990s.

“The government said at the time that significant pay cuts were necessary to get Alberta’s financial house in order,” said MacLennan. “Alberta’s financial picture is now very bright. The GSBC’s members clearly felt strongly that direct provincial employees deserve to be rewarded for their contribution.”

Petrie said that the wage increase proposal put forward by AUPE when the bargaining teams meet on Sept. 22 “will also take into account the fast-rising cost of living in Alberta, as well as what others are now paid to do comparable jobs for other governments and in the private sector.”

“We have heard repeatedly from the employer that our province’s employees to a superlative job,” said MacLennan after the GSBC meeting. “These employees’ new collective agreement needs to reflect that reality.”

The GSBC is made up of bargaining representatives from each of the nine AUPE locals that represent direct employees of the province.

Additional bargaining dates will likely be set at that time after the first formal meetings with representatives of the province’s Personnel Administration Office Sept. 22-24, Petrie said.

All government service locals’ bargaining representatives plus members of the GSBC met for two days in June to provide the committee with the mandate it needs to negotiate a new Master Agreement as well as new Subsidiary Agreements for each AUPE government service local.