The union filed a statement of claim in the Court of Queen’s Bench this morning in response to Bill 9, the Public Sector Wage Arbitration Deferral Act, which breaks legally binding agreements by delaying working people the wage arbitration they had voted on, to be held no later than June 30.
“We had no choice but to file our statement of claim this morning, and we are preparing additional legal action to fight for AUPE members across the province,” said AUPE President Guy Smith.
The UCP government’s legal counsel represented to AUPE last Thursday that Bill 9 would become law early morning on Friday, June 21. Wage arbitration hearings for 23,000 front-line government workers were cancelled based solely on this representation. As of June 24 Bill 9 has not received Royal Assent and is not yet law.
“We were lied to,” said Smith. “Bill 9 is not yet law. We could have gone ahead as scheduled but instead we lost key arbitration meetings because the government gave us false information.
“This is bad faith bargaining. It’s outrageous, and further proof the UCP government has no respect for working Albertans or the law.”
AUPE filed the statement of claim based on two key issues: that Bill 9 goes against the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and therefore should not go into effect; and for a court injunction as soon as possible to allow wage arbitration to go ahead as negotiated in good faith by AUPE members and their employers.
“AUPE members stand together in opposition to Bill 9,” said Smith. “We will fight this attack on working Albertans.”
AUPE is Alberta’s largest union, standing over 95,000 members strong province-wide.
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For more information:
Alexander Delorme, AUPE communications officer: 780-264-9274