AFL blasts Smith for trampling the rights of Fort McMurray education workers

FORT MCMURRAY – Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL) president Gil McGowan is in Fort McMurray today supporting education workers who had voted overwhelmingly to strike in support of their demands for fair wages and working conditions. He made the following statement in response to the Government of Alberta’s decision to strip those workers of their legal right to strike:

“With her decision to pre-emptively and unilaterally suspend the education workers’ strike in Fort McMurray, Premier Danielle Smith has made it clear that she has no intention of letting any public sector workers in this province exercise their legal right to strike. Stripping workers of their right to strike may play well with certain elements of the UCP’s base, but it won’t help address the real problem that is plaguing our health and education systems: and that problem is staff shortages. In fact, using the power of government to force workers to swallow wage increases that don’t keep up with inflation will just make things worse. We need to be doing more to attract and retain workers, but what the Premier and the UCP are doing will drive them away. All Albertans are going to pay the price for Danielle Smith’s short-sighted tough-guy antics. And that price will be paid in the form of more closed hospitals and even more over-crowded classrooms.”

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MEDIA CONTACT:
Gil McGowan
President, AFL
Email: gmcgowan@afl.org