Change the Law letters tabled in Legislature
EDMONTON – Opposition Members of the Alberta Legislature are tabling letters from voters calling for reform of the province’s outdated and unfair labour legislation.
Well over 22,000 of the letters, signed by voters from throughout the province, were received last month by the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees.
The letters were signed and sent to AUPE after volunteers distributed packages on Alberta’s labour laws to thousands of households throughout the province earlier this fall. In the same time period, AUPE advertisements on billboards, in newspapers and broadcast on the air pointed out the many problems with current Alberta labour legislation.
“Thanks to the Change the Law Campaign carried out by AUPE and other unions, Albertans are now aware that this province needs new labour laws that are fair to working people and their families,” said AUPE President Doug Knight.
“Now it’s up to the government to provide Albertans with the legislation they need, and we hope that having the Opposition parties table these letters day by day, entering them into the legislative record, will be a forceful reminder that the public supports this change,” he said.
AUPE and its partner unions — the Plumbers and Pipefitters, Canadian Auto Workers, United Food and Commercial Workers and Calgary Firefighters Association — called for five specific, reasonable changes to Alberta’s labour laws:
- Introduction of first-contract binding arbitration in cases where an agreement cannot be reached through collective bargaining.
- Full legal bargaining rights for all public employees.
- One labour law for all unionized employees.
- Automatic certification of all workplaces where more than half the employees have signed a union petition.
- A ban on the use of strikebreakers.
AUPE has urged the government pf Premier Ed Stelmach to attend a meeting with representatives of AUPE, the Plumbers and Pipefitters, CAW, UFCW and Calgary Firefighters to discuss the need for change.
Later, AUPE will provide all MLAs with copies of the letters received from voters in their own electoral districts.
For more information, contact:
Doug Knight, President, AUPE, 780-930-3301 or 780-265-6655 (cellular phone)
David Climenhaga, Communications Director, AUPE, 780-930-3311 or 780-717-2943 (cellular phone)
Related Links:
Click here for additional information on AUPE’s Change the Law Campaign