Labour disputes baked into this year’s budget

EDMONTON – The UCP government is on a collision course with Alberta’s public-sector workers and will have no one to blame but themselves if picket lines go up in front of hospitals or schools, says Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan.

“The UCP government has created the conditions for labour disputes by deliberately underbudgeting despite sitting on a multi-billion-dollar surplus,” says McGowan. “If there are public-sector lockouts or strikes, which seem more likely by the day, there will be no one to blame but the UCP government led by Danielle Smith because they’ve baked these conditions into this year’s budget.”

“Alberta’s population is expected to grow by 4.6 per cent this year, but the UCP budgeted overall compensation to increase by only 2.4 per cent, leaving no room to hire more front-line staff unless existing unionized staff are forced to swallow more zeroes. In fact, the UCP’s budget shows they plan on increasing the number of health care workers by less than 1 per cent, and the number of teachers by 2 per cent – not nearly enough to provide quality public services to a growing population.

The UCP’s Minister of Finance Nate Horner said in a statement last week that, “this government is not going to increase taxes or cut programs and services Albertans rely on to support pay increases,” but McGowan says “he’s offering a false choice.”

“The government is forecasting a huge budget surplus this year which should be invested in the public services Albertans need and the cost-of-living wage increases that the workers who deliver those services deserve.”

“Inflation has run rampant over the past few years. Many unionized workers in the private sector have bargained wages that help keep them whole, and employers of non-unionized workers have increased wages to attract scarce workers. Public-sector workers are simply demanding what’s fair.”

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MEDIA CONTACT:
John Ashton
Director of Communications, AFL
E-mail: jashton@afl.org