AUPE sets Labour Day launch for $1.5-million campaign to change labour laws
EDMONTON – The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees will launch one of its largest political campaigns ever on Monday’s Labour Day holiday.
The $1.5-million Change the Law campaign aims to convince the government of Alberta to modernize the province’s labour laws to benefit all working people and families, including those who do not now enjoy the benefits of union membership, AUPE President Doug Knight said.
Before the campaign ends in late October, more than 700 volunteers will have delivered leaflets and letters to the homes of an estimated 300,000 people throughout Alberta. Campaigners will also be active on the campuses of Alberta post-secondary institutions.
“This campaign was brought forward by the grassroots membership,” said Knight. Delegates to the 2005 AUPE convention spontaneously brought forward the resolution that set the campaign in motion.”
“Many other unions are supporting the campaign,” he noted, “including the United Association of Pipe Trades, Local 401 of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, the Edmonton Amalgamated Transit Union, the Canadian Auto Workers Union and the Calgary Firefighters Association.”
“We will make the government recognize that working people in Alberta deserve laws that protect their rights,” he said, “and we have proposed five specific legislative changes that would benefit all Albertans.”
Those changes are:
- A single consistent labour law for all unionized employees, including public employees.
- Full and fair bargaining rights for all public employees, including the legal right to strike.
- First-contract binding arbitration to help newly unionized workplaces get a union contract.
- Automatic union certification when more than half the employees in a workplace have signed a union card.
- A ban on the use of strikebreakers during labour disputes.
“Each of these common-sense policies are found in the labour laws of other Canadian provinces,” Knight said. “Enacting the same policies in Alberta will bring our law into line with internationally recognized rights.
“Over the next few weeks, tens of thousands of Albertans can expect to find our campaign materials in their mailboxes,” he added. “We hope they will sign the letter to MLAs and return it to us in the postage-paid envelope that will be included.”
In late October, AUPE will formally deliver the signed letters to all Members of the Legislative Assembly. MLAs will receive copies of the letters signed by voters in their constituencies from volunteers who live in their constituencies.
“This is not just about AUPE and its members,” Knight concluded. “It’s about the future of Alberta and the rights of all working people in our province.”
AUPE is Alberta’s largest union, with more than 64,000 members.
For more information, contact:
Doug Knight, President, AUPE, and Chair of the Committee on Political Action (COPA), 780-930-3301 or 780-265-6655 (cellular phone)
Guy Smith, Vice-Chair, COPA, 780-265-2294 (cellular phone)