AUPE to emphasize four key goals in 2007, President Doug Knight says in Year-End Message
EDMONTON – The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees will emphasize important rounds of bargaining and campaigns to change Alberta’s labour laws and oppose privatization during 2007, President Doug Knight said in his Year-End Message to members.
Describing 2006 as a “year of surprises” — first among them the unexpected decision by former president Dan MacLennan to step down mid-term — Knight outlined his program for continuing AUPE’s past successes in the year ahead.
AUPE will emphasize four key goals in 2007, he said.
- Negotiations for a new collective agreement for our 21,000 members who are employed directly by the provincial government.
- Continuing the campaign to bring Alberta’s labour laws into the 21st Century.
- Reminding the public that public services are of great value, and are best provided by public employees.
- Preparing for the major round of health sector bargaining expected in 2008.
Negotiations for a new Master Contract and Subsidiary Agreements for direct employees of the provincial government are the largest and most complex negotiations facing AUPE, Knight explained.
“It will take a huge amount of energy and work throughout 2007,” he said. “We will start early in the new year, with a bargaining conference in Red Deer that will be attended by all nine General Service locals.
“We expect to sit down with the Government’s bargaining representatives mid-year,” Knight said. “We will press on until we have reached an agreement that our members deserve.”
Knight said he hopes to meet with Premier Ed Stelmach in the New Year to discuss the negotiations, and also to press for AUPE’s postition on the need to change Alberta’s labour laws.
“Right now, Alberta’s labour laws are among the worst in Canada,” Knight said, outlining the need to bring this important legislation into line with Canadian and international human rights standards.
AUPE has five specific policy proposals to fix problems with the law, he noted. More information is available by clicking on the link at the bottom of this news release.
As for AUPE’s efforts to fight privatization, Knight said, “privatization and so-called public-private partnerships cost taxpayers more and deliver important public services far less efficiently.
“It is incumbent upon us to make that case, articulately and loudly, not merely to protect our own jobs, but to protect the public that we proudly serve in government, health care, education and public boards and agencies,” he said.
Also in 2007, Knight said, AUPE must get ready to negotiate contracts in the health-care sector the following year for close to 30,000 members. “We need to prepare our members for this massive round of bargaining,” he said. “We need to make the message clear to these employers that AUPE members in this sector will do what it takes to achieve the fair collective agreements they deserve.”
On a personal note, Knight described his commitment to continuing MacLennan’s policy of meeting AUPE members in their workplaces. “This can be exhausting,” he observed, adding, however, “it is the key to understanding what members want and what AUPE should be doing.”
AUPE is Alberta’s largest union, with more than 64,000 members.
For more information, contact:
Doug Knight, President, AUPE, 780-930-3301 or 780-265-6655 (cellular phone)
David Climenhaga, Communications Director, AUPE, 780-930-3301 or 780-717-2943 (cellular phone)