Wednesday, July 16, 2003

EDMONTON – The Alberta Labour Relations Board advises health region employees eligible to take part in Bill 27 votes to mail in their ballots despite the threat of a national postal strike.

A Board official contacted by AUPE said today they will not accept ballots that are delivered by hand or delivered by courier.

Ballots must be returned via Canada Post in the envelopes provided by the Labour Board, the official said.

The ALRB official indicated the Board will consider their response to a postal strike only in the event a strike takes place.

The official also said any response will be developed with the agreement of participating unions, and that all unions will be treated in the same manner.

The threat of national postal strike has added urgency to the health region runoff votes – especially in regions where the votes were delayed.

Canada’s postal workers could be on strike as early as Friday, July 18, if a new collective agreement cannot be reached between their union and their employer.

Talks between the union representing Canada’s 45,000 postal workers (CUPW) and Canada Post are continuing, and negotiators are reported to be making some progress.

Postal workers have been working without a contract since Jan. 31. They voted 92 per cent in favour of strike action if necessary in June.

In dispute are several important issues, including salaries, contracting out, retirement benefits, workload and workplace safety.

The health region union runoff votes were called by the Alberta Labour Relations Board as part of the process of creating region-wide “functional bargaining units” mandated by Bill 27. Votes are required in regions where two or more unions represent more than 20 per cent of the employees in a given bargaining unit in a health region.

The ALRB decided that ballots would be mailed to eligible voters and returned by mail – a process that is now under way in several regions.

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