EDMONTON – Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL) President Gil McGowan made the following statement regarding the Private Members Motion No. 506, tabled by Alberta NDP MLA Heather Sweet:

“With the state of negotiations between the UCP Government and Alberta’s workers currently headed in a confrontational direction, we applaud MLA Sweet and her fellow members of the NDP Caucus for putting forward this motion. It serves as an important reminder of what workers and their unions contribute to building better lives for all Albertans.

“Since Alberta joined Confederation, unions have been there to fight for better workplace health and safety standards, fair wages, and benefits that create our middle class and lift families from poverty. We look forward to seeing the Legislative Assembly of Alberta affirm and celebrate this contribution to our province.

“Workers are still in this struggle today. Alberta’s workers have kept this province running through the economic downturn of the 2010’s and the pandemic of the 2020’s. Through it all, their wages have fallen well behind inflation. The UCP Government should remember this, or workers will remind them on the picket line.

“Also, this motion recognizes that unions are uniquely democratic institutions. All leadership positions are elected. And all actions, budgets, and policies are debated and decided in democratic votes. Put simply, outside of governments themselves, unions are the most democratic organizations in Canadian society.

“However, there are some groups that take the shape of unions but do not adhere to these democratic principles. In our view, organizations like the Christian Labour Association of Canada (CLAC) should be taking a lesson from truly democratic unions like those affiliated with the AFL. Specifically, they should embrace the same kinds of mechanisms for representative democracy that AFL-affiliated unions use to make decisions around negotiation priorities, work actions, and leadership.

“We look forward to seeing support for Private Members Motion No. 506 from members on both sides of the Legislature. We also hope the UCP government keeps this motion in mind as they negotiate with workers seeking fair compensation.”

MEDIA CONTACT:
John Ashton
Director of Communications, AFL
Email: jashton@afl.org