AFL president calls rally the largest labour gathering in Alberta history
PV Alberta Bureau
Public schools support staff in Edmonton held a one-day strike on October 25, defying attempts by the Edmonton Public School Board to delay the strike through an opportunistic application to the Disputes Inquiry Board.
The strike had been planned for a month, with workers giving their union – Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 3550 – a 97-percent strike vote.
The Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL) helped mobilize the attendance of other Alberta labour unions at the Legislature Grounds in Edmonton as a gesture of solidarity. Among the unions that showed up were the Alberta Union of Public Employees (AUPE), United Nurses of Alberta (UNA), Health Sciences Association of Alberta (HSAA), CUPE, Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions (CFNU), Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA), Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), Teamsters, Ironworkers, Non-Academic Staff Association (NASA), Association of Academic Staff of the University of Alberta (AASUA) and Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW).
Also in attendance were labour allies like Friends of Medicare.
A low estimate is that around 5000 workers were in attendance, with the largest groups coming from CUPE Local 3550 who had about 2000 workers on strike, plus delegates to the AUPE and UNA conventions which coincided with the one-day strike. AFL president Gil McGowan stated in one of his speeches that this the largest labour gathering in Alberta history, estimating the crowd at 8,000 people.
The strike was called to demand respect for workers as well as for the rights of students, and in response to a contract offer which proposed a raise of 2.75 percent over 4 years. The rainbow flags in attendance were in response to proposals from Alberta’s United Conservative Party (UCP) government to ban students from trans expressions in schools. “The support staff did this not for themselves, but they did this for our students,” said CUPE Local 3550 president Mandy Lamoureux.
In addition to the CUPE Local 3550 demands, the AFL put forward additional demands on behalf of all unions in Alberta. These included demanding the government stop interfering with bargaining, that the right to strike be protected and upheld, and that public services be protected from privatization. They also echoed the demands of CUPE Local 3550 as being necessary for all public sector unions currently in bargaining.
“What they have been offering at the bargaining table has been 7.5 percent. And that’s not in one year, that’s four years,” said the AFL’s McGowan, referring to bargaining offers across all public sector unions in bargaining.
The UCP government has been using the Provincial Bargaining and Compensation Office created by Rachel Notley’s NDP government and the Public Sector Employer Act created by Jason Kenney’s UCP government, to privately set the terms of bargaining on behalf of the public sector employers.
“Our message is clear,” said McGowan. “Stop the destruction of our healthcare system. Stop The defunding of our education. Stop the attacks on our workers’ rights.”
In addition to Lamoureux and McGowan, other speakers at the rally included UNA president Heather Smith, AUPE president Guy Smith, CUPE national president Mark Hancock, CUPE Alberta president Rory Gill, CFNU president Linda Silas, HSAA president Michael Parker, NASA president Quinn Benders and ATA president Jason Schilling.
CUPE Local 3550 represents the first of what may be many public sector strikes in Alberta if the UCP government continues to interfere in bargaining in order to block fair contracts.
[Photo: Gil McGowan X]
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