Members and supporters from the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) held a rally in Okotoks on Sunday, September 8.
It was one of the AUPE’s “Time for Action” rallies, which have been held across the province over the course of the summer, with three held the day prior in Calgary, Edmonton, and Red Deer.
Members gathered at the Okotoks Health and Wellness Centre from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. to demonstrate amid stalled bargaining talks with the province.
“We’re here because bargaining is not proceeding the way we would like to see it proceed, we don’t feel like we’re given the respect at the bargaining table we deserve, and so far, the employers' proposals for monetary issues are ridiculous, they don’t even begin to address the cost of living increases that we’ve seen across this province,” said AUPE South region vice president Curtis Jackson.
Finance Minister Nate Horner released a statement on Friday (Sept. 6) ahead of the weekend’s rallies, stating that while he supports workers’ right to demonstrate, he finds their requested 26 per cent wage increase over the next three years to be unreasonable.
“The average Albertan has not seen this kind of wage increase. And this government is not going to increase taxes or cut programs and services Albertans rely on to support pay increases that are far beyond market. We must remain competitive with other public sector settlements across Canada that have achieved market-based compensation.”
Jackson responded, pointing to the provincial government’s oft-touted surpluses.
“Just a week before, Mr. Horner was bragging about a $3 billion surplus in this province. I’m sorry Mr. Horner, you don’t need to raise taxes, just give that money where it needs to go, to public sector workers, instead of your buddies, instead of propping up an already-profitable oil and gas sector. Public sector workers are ailing, we need help in this province, this province depends on public sector workers to survive.”
Jackson, who chairs the AUPE’s Anti-Privatization Committee, also criticized provincial policies that he and the AUPE feel are efforts to privatize healthcare and other public services.
“Contracting out is privatization. Look it up in the dictionary, it is defined as giving control of public dollars to private companies. The problem with doing that is there’s no accountability. When public dollars stay in the public domain, then Albertans get to say what happens with that money, and we do it most often by exercising our right to vote. When we contract out and we give control of those dollars to private companies, Albertans no longer have a say as to how their public dollars are spent and it’s a travesty.”
Despite many of the AUPE’s grievances being pointed toward the UCP government, Jackson says those grievances are non-partisan and originate from a desire to simply provide a livable wage to the over 95,000 workers the union represents.
“This isn’t a conversation about blue versus orange, this is us, as public sector workers, saying ‘We are tired, we are burned out, we are worn down, we are hungry, we are starving, we are homeless, we deserve better.”