Provincial union members rally across Alberta
By Lethbridge Herald on July 27, 2024.
Curtis Jackson, vice president of AUPE assigned to the south region, leads demonstrators during a rally on Friday at the provincial building downtown.
Herald photo by Justin SibbetJustin Sibbet – LETHBRIDGE HERALD – Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
With chants for “what democracy looks like” and many others, around 100 members from the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) rallied in Lethbridge on Friday.
The demonstration, held at the provincial building downtown, was one of many held across the province in recent days, with union members voicing their support for what they consider fair treatment of employees.
Curtis Jackson, vice president of AUPE assigned to the south region, says the rallies offer the 82,000 AUPE members a chance to speak out and become more involved in the union, something he says has not happened in years.
“The rally is one of the ways in which we activate our members,” said Jackson.
“We had really strong rallies, really strong information pickets in 2019, of course the pandemic shut down the whole place and shut us down as well, so this is really the first time we’ve gone out and stretched our legs and used our voices since the pandemic.”
Furthermore, he says the rallies act as a next step, so to speak, in the efforts to maintain a strong stance in the current bargaining agreements taking place all over Alberta.
“This is the natural progression to the ‘Time for Action’ town halls that we hosted across the province in June,” said Jackson.
Currently, AUPE says they are involved in several “large” and many “smaller” negotiations.
Guy Smith, the president of AUPE, came down from Edmonton to rally with members. He says, he expects the bargaining agreements to reach a “critical” point within a few months.
“Negotiations are very fluid and things have been moving very fast,” said Smith.
“There (have) been negotiations that have taken a year or more, but this has all happened within the space of a few months and we’re reaching a critical point. I would suggest by mid fall we would know exactly where we stand what we need to do.”
What they need to do will vary, according to Smith. He says it could lead to union members going on strike with certain companies if the negotiating process is not favourable.
“Many (negotiations) are reaching a point where we’re going to need the assistance of a third-party mediator to try and bring us together. If that’s not possible and we’re still too far apart, that’s when we’ll reach out to our members to make that crucial decision about whether they’re willing to withdraw their labour.”
He says the current political and economic climate is making rallies like the one held on Friday even more important for the working-class Albertan.
“I would say, (what is) more intense now is the cost of living. The fact that there’s a lot of workers working short on the front lines, understaffing has not been addressed. I think we’re seeing this in Alberta, across the country and around the world, particularly public-sector workers are saying ‘enough is enough’.”
Smith says the variety of rallies throughout Alberta demonstrates the unity of the union, no matter the industry of the various members.
“(They are) all fighting for the same things; increased wages, improved working conditions,” said Smith.
“I’ve been from one end of the province to the other, I’m really sensing this mood of workers standing up and fighting for a decent collective agreement.”
The weather was ideal for those taking up signs, flags and megaphones as the sun shined down, but the temperatures never scorched. However, Jackson says the gift from mother nature may be nice, but they would have gone ahead with the event no matter what.
“Come rain or shine, we’re going to be out here. We don’t cancel for weather.”
Finally, Jackson says the diverse lineup of AUPE members means there are some who may not be able to rally because of the nature of their occupation. This, he says, includes those battling the fires near Jasper and other areas of Alberta.
“Today I think it’s really fitting to give a shout out to our forest firefighters (who) are currently fighting blazes across the province,” said Jackson. “Our thoughts are with them; our prayers are with them. We hope that they’re safe as they’re out there protecting Albertans.”
24-23
my goodness, by what grace of god should regular folk expect a fair standard of living on this planet? you unionist commie socialists have your nerve. here is the rule, that many a non commie socialist unionist must support: only the special, privileged ordained by god to be so special get to live as lavish as can be, no matter how they accrue their wealth and privilege; the rest get to work as hard as they are told for as little as possible. now, start marching away from protests and straight toward your owners. if you’re lucky, all will be forgiven and you might even get a bone, too.
Your understanding of unions, socialism and communism (which countless people equate as socialism — it is NOT) is faulty biff. More importantly the fact is that YOU no doubt benefit regularly from “socialism” reforms that socialists and unions worked diligently to see enacted in Canada: medicare; holidays period; paid vacations; overtime pay; safety laws; workers compensation laws and resulting re-employment initiatives; maternity leave (including even some males at their workplaces — certainly a bonus if the wife is the high wage earner and the husband can stay home for the childcare); insurance plans; Canada Pension and for some employment situations additional retirement benefits; unemployment benefits, heck… even coffee breaks were first initiated due to united workers petitioning for same. I highly doubt that you have not benefited from any, or most of the above biff. So… if you are so strongly opposed to these peoples efforts and sacrifices to win you these socialist benefits, if you so detest these benefits, I CHALLENGE YOU to put your money where your mouth is biff and to repay the value of all those benefits you mock. Otherwise you appear to me to be a member of a twisted “Free Riders’Club”.
Both well said: biff for satire, reallyreally for the benefits of a community working in solidarity for the greater good.
Yes I failed to pick up on the entirety of the satirical gist of biff’s bit. I am feeling edgy this past few days after listening to another fellow complain routinely at some gatherings about socialism, when he regularly jumps on every opportunity to suck up the benefits of these very labour/union /socialist hard won rights. — I am tired of such essentially “parasitic buffoons”.
we are most always on the same page when it comes to fairness and compassion. ditto sophie. always good to read entries by you and sophie. pardon, me, though, i seem to be leaning toward satire more than not of late.
No pardon needed. Sarcasm is perhaps the highest form of humour ? I reacted, was “triggered” by a brewing anger towards this other individual’s and indeed too many people’s failure to comprehend the history behind, the basis of all the benefits they so eagerly lap up with little thanks to the folks who have done the work to ensure they have those contemporary rights. No biff, I am often sardonic myself and my own stumble here helps me to recognize why my comments can fly right by some people. Always happy to gain more perspective. Keep up your wonderful commentary.
you have shared your “respect” for some entries by several people in this forum – right back at you: RESPECT.
as for those that fail to appreciate unions and collective approaches to society, one only needs look at how big corp treats people in places where workers are under the thumb of the most corrupted and heavy handed govts…min pay, hazardous working conditions…the very same corps that are held to at least some levels of account here. and, even then, when there are lawsuits against big corp, they still get off so incredibly easy..
This better be on personal time. Govt workers laze around enough on taxpayers dime. Maybe if they put this much effort into doing their actual jobs.