AUPE Calls General Strike Over Safety

The difference between business unionism and industrial unionism. Business unions are in the business of keeping business operating, industrial/social unionism says wobble the job for health and safety.

The head of Alberta Building Trades Council is calling for calm over the deaths of two foreign workers at a Fort McMurray-area oilpatch worksite.

Executive director Ron Harry called on workers and the public to wait until all investigations into the tragedy are complete before making any decisions.

"There are processes and policies on each site," said Harry.

"In the end a worker is a worker, no matter if he's union or non-union, an immigrant or non-immigrant. It's unfortunate but you must find out what caused the situation first."

He was responding to reports Doug Knight of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees called on workers to walk off the job immediately if they fear the jobsite is not safe.

If there is immediate danger at the workplace you must remove yourself and your co-workers from it," said Harry, "then work with the employers and owners on site about the problem, don't just walk off the job."

The ABTC represents 50,000 unionized workers, 16 affiliate trade unions and 23 locals in Alberta. The two workers killed were not union members.

Harry said that the last thing he wants to see are massive groups of workers walking off the job sites without first going through the workplace safety steps.

The two men died while working at the Canadian Natural Resources Ltd site in the Fort MacKay area, near Fort McMurray. Witnesses said that a massive tank collapsed and killed the two temporary Chinese workers and injured four more.

Fiona Wiseman, spokesman for Occupation Health and Safety, said that four investigators from Alberta Employment, Immigration and Industry are already at the site.

A government translator who speaks Mandarin, the same language the two dead men spoke, is also on the scene. Wiseman said that no details will be released until the investigation is completed. In 2006, 124 people died on the job in Alberta. The death toll reached 27 in the first two months of 2007.

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Day of Mourning

Labour Shortage = Union Busting

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Solidarity rallies for health-care workers bring out support in Calgary, Edmonton

© Mike Symington/CBC 

Supporters gathered in front of the Foothills Medical Centre at 6:30 a.m. on Thursday.

Several rallies were held across Alberta on Thursday morning to show solidarity for health-care workers who walked off the job last week to protest the provincial government's announcement it would outsource thousands of jobs.

On Oct. 26, hundreds of health-care workers engaged in a wildcat strike after Alberta's Minister of Health Tyler Shandro announced that Alberta Health Services would lay off between 9,700 and 11,000 employees.

They were swiftly ordered back to work by the Alberta Labour Relations Board.

On Oct. 27, Finance Minister Travis Toews told reporters that nursing and support workers who participated in the strike could be fined, suspended or even fired from their jobs.

On Thursday, supporters gathered in front of the Foothills Medical Centre and the Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre in Calgary, and Edmonton's University of Alberta Hospital, to show their support for the front-line workers.

"We [are here] to thank all of the brave members that walked out on Oct. 26," said Bobby-Joe Borodey, one of the vice-presidents of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) — the union that represents the health-care workers — at the rally in front of the Foothills hospital.

"We did that to send a message to [Premier] Jason Kenney and the UCP government that this direction that they're heading in with privatization is awful, and it's something that Albertans don't want."
'Make no mistake, they're all front-line workers'

Unions representing Alberta's health-care workers told CBC Edmonton in mid-October that there would be major labour strife if the government follows through on the proposed restructuring plan underpinned by thousands of layoffs.

Most of those who will lose their jobs work in laboratory, linen, cleaning and in-patient food services with AHS, and their positions will be outsourced to private companies.

According to Borodey, there is no overstating the value of their work during COVID-19.

"Make no mistake, they're all front-line workers," Borodey said. "When this pandemic started, they were the heroes that were on the front-line — the first line of defence at keeping Albertans safe at hospitals and health centres across the province.

"And then, when we're in month eight, all of a sudden, they're zeroes. And they're overpaid and replaceable. So, they're feeling pretty deflated and frustrated."

© Mike Symington/CBC Calgary

 'We're in the same risk as these guys. It's high-stress. It takes a lot of dedication, it takes a lot of courage to go to work every day. And then to have the employer treat you with such disregard, it's, you know, it's demoralizing,' Mike Mahar said.

Mike Mahar, the Canadian director of the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU), said that as fellow essential workers, the ATU wanted to attend the rally at the Foothills show its support.

Mahar, who had strong words for the provincial government, said transit workers understand the intense pressure of working the front-lines during the pandemic.

"We're in the same risk as these guys. It's high-stress. It takes a lot of dedication, it takes a lot of courage to go to work every day. And then to have the employer treat you with such disregard, it's, you know, it's demoralizing," Mahar said.

"To have the carpet pulled out from under you like that, during a pandemic — it's actually reckless. I think it's criminal. Not just putting those people out of work, but doing it right now … it's going to cost people's lives, I bet."

NDP MLA David Shepherd, who also attended the rally at the Foothills, said he is receiving hundreds of emails from people who are tired of the attacks on health-care staff.

"[The UCP government] announced this as our province is entering into the second wave of COVID-19. It's absolutely unacceptable," Shepherd said.

CBC News asked the Alberta government for comment on the rallies but it has not yet responded.

However, in October, Shandro said the cuts are eventually expected to save up to $600 million annually, and there will be a "long-term and gradual" implementation of the plan.

TWEEDLE DEE & TWEEDLE DUM CHANGE PLACES

Shandro shuffled out as Alberta's health minister, takes on labour portfolio in swap with Copping

Former health minister faced heavy criticism throughout the pandemic

Author of the article:Ashley Joannou
Publishing date:Sep 21, 2021 • 3 hours ago • 2 minute read • 29 Comments

Tyler Shandro was shuffled off the health portfolio Tuesday afternoon. 

PHOTO BY AZIN GHAFFARI /Postmedia, file



Tyler Shandro is no longer Alberta’s health minister after more than a year of heavy criticism over his handling of the portfolio.

Shandro was shuffled out at a short ceremony Tuesday afternoon, swapping roles with former labour and immigration minister Jason Copping who now takes over the health ministry.

Media was not invited to the ceremony, which was broadcast online. Premier Jason Kenney did not give a statement explaining his decision to swap the portfolios.

Amid the turmoil of the COVID-19 pandemic, and a protracted dispute between the government and doctors, the NDP Opposition had repeatedly called for Shandro’s resignation as health minister.

In March, 2020, after Shandro took fire for confronting a Calgary doctor in his driveway, Kenney rejected calls for his removal, saying it was understandable Shandro became “passionate” in defending his spouse.

After doctors voted down a contract offer from the province in April 2021, Kenney again rejected calls to fire Shandro, saying he had his “full, 100 per cent confidence.”

In a written statement Tuesday, NDP Leader Rachel Notley called news of Shandro’s shuffle “welcome” but said it is not a solution to the crisis going on in Alberta hospitals.

“It is clear that the responsibility for Alberta’s pandemic mismanagement rests on the shoulders of every UCP member and therefore it is incumbent on them all to take responsibility and chart a more effective path on behalf of Albertans,” Notley said.

“A cabinet shuffle will not ease the immense pressure on our hospitals from this severe fourth wave. It won’t reschedule the life-saving surgeries of thousands of Albertans. It won’t recover our economy. And it won’t help everyday families looking for leadership. Albertans deserve better.”

Tuesday’s move comes as the province is dealing with a fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Alberta currently has the highest rate of new COVID-19 cases in the country. The latest wave has put heavy pressure on the health-care system, particularly in intensive care units, leading to the cancellation of all surgeries that are considered non-essential.

Officials with Alberta Health Services announced last week that they were reaching out to other Canadian provinces asking for ICU spaces and skilled labour.

With files from Lisa Johnson

Alberta's new health minister brings questions and concerns from opponents to portfolio

Duane Bratt, a political scientist at MRU, said there are many questions around how Copping, a relatively unknown member of the legislature, ended up in the position and what he will do now that he has the role

Author of the article:Dylan Short
Publishing date:Sep 21, 2021

Minsiter of Health Jason Copping seen during his time as Minister of Labour and Immigration 

PHOTO BY LARRY WONG/POSTMEDIA


The appointment of a Calgary MLA into the role of health minister has left question marks, doubt and worry amid political commentators and opponents.

Jason Copping, MLA for Calgary Varsity and former minister of Labour and Immigration, took the reins as health minister Tuesday afternoon. Tyler Shandro has taken over Copping’s former portfolio.

Duane Bratt, a political scientist at Mount Royal University, wished Copping good luck as he steps into his new role, a position that has been under increasing scrutiny. Alberta is currently grappling with the highest COVID-19 case numbers in Canada and a health-care system that is struggling to maintain capacity.

Bratt said there are many questions around how Copping, a relatively unknown member of the legislature, ended up in the position and what he will do now that he has the role.

“How did he end up (there), was he the last guy in the room?” said Bratt. “I don’t know how he ended up in that job.”

Before entering provincial politics, Copping spent two decades working in management in the labour relations and human resources fields. His official UCP bio states he has previously worked on collective bargaining agreements and represented management in arbitration cases.

Copping was first elected into the legislature in 2019 and named to Premier Jason Kenney’s cabinet later that year. He has spent the past two years as the minister of Labour and Immigration, sponsoring five bills. Those bills mostly amended legislation around business and workplaces.

One of his recent bills, Bill 47: Ensuring Safety and Cutting Red Tape, 2020, changed a number of legal protections and compensation measures introduced by the previous NDP government. Those changes included the removal of presumptive psychological coverage for many health-care workers, including nurses and doctors.

Those workers can still receive compensation for issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder, but the Workers Compensation Board (WCB) won’t automatically assume those injuries come from the workplace.

Official Opposition Leader Rachel Notley reacted to Tuesday’s cabinet shuffle in a series of tweets, saying Copping has a legacy of revoking WCB protections and failing to protect workers at Alberta meat plants during COVID-19 outbreaks in the workplace.

The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) issued a similar statement, saying Copping has “blemishes” on his record, pointing to changes in workers legislation.

Bratt said the new role would be difficult for anyone to take on as relations have been frayed through past and present labour negotiations with health-care workers.

The province is currently negotiating a new bargaining agreement with the United Nurses of Alberta.

“What is his standing? What are the policy changes? Those are all very good questions and there is, I mean, there is no trust that the health-care workers have with the government over labour negotiations,” said Bratt.

Copping said Tuesday afternoon that he is honoured to be asked to serve as health minister. He said he has three pillars he plans to work on: increasing health-care capacity permanently, getting vaccine-hesitant Albertans to receive their shots and prepping the health-care system to adequately respond to potential future waves of COVID-19.

“We obviously have immediate and significant pressures on our health-care system right now and I step into this role resolutely committed to building immediate capacity,” said Copping.

Edmonton city staff, police to observe National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

Recognizing the importance of the Truth and Reconciliation calls to action, City of Edmonton staff along with the Edmonton Police Service (EPS) will recognize the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

.

© Wes Rosa, Global News 

Edmonton City Hall pictured on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2020.

Over the summer months, Ottawa declared Sept. 30 as a national holiday that is meant to give public servants an opportunity to recognize the legacy of residential schools.

The day also coincides with Orange Shirt Day — a day on which people honour residential school survivor Phyllis Webstad, who had her orange shirt taken away on the first day of school.

"Our commitment to the Indigenous community we share these lands with is to continue to work with, understand, and grow as we recognize past wrongs and build bridges to the future,” said Edmonton city manager Andre Corbould.

Read more: Alberta leaves National Day for Truth and Reconciliation stat holiday up to employers

During the day off, police and city staff are encouraged to learn about the intergenerational trauma caused to Indigenous peoples, according to a news release.

Video: Meaningful ways to mark Canada’s first-ever Truth and Reconciliation Day

Community events along with workplace activities will also be planned for the Thursday.

“Recognizing Sept. 30 as the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is an important step in rebuilding relationships and reconnecting with Edmonton’s Indigenous community,” said EPS chief Dale McFee.

“There is still much work to do on the path toward true reconciliation, but the Edmonton Police Service is honoured to have this opportunity to reflect on our shared history and the impacts on Indigenous communities.”

Some services within Edmonton will be reduced to observe the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

City of Calgary will observe September 30 - National Day for Truth and Reconciliation


(ANNews) – In June 2021, the Federal Government of Canada announced September 30 as the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, making the date a paid day off for federal workers and employees in federally regulated workplaces.

The national holiday was one of the 94 calls to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada and was created to allow Canadian citizens the opportunity to honour and reflect on Canada’s history of Residential Schools.

However, Canada has said that the holiday only applies to federally regulated employers subject to the code, meaning that the federal legislation does not apply to provincially regulated employers unless a provincial legislature makes amendments to provincial law.

The Alberta Government has announced it will not be recognizing the day and has opted to leave the implementation of the holiday to provincially regulated industries, such as Alberta Health Services (AHS).

Alberta Indigenous Relations press secretary Adrienne South said that while the government is not recognizing the federal holiday, the province is encouraging Albertans to acknowledge and honour the legacy of the Residential School system.

“We must not limit our acknowledgement to the legacy of residential schools to just one day,” she said.

South then emphasized the province’s commitment to “implementing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s provincial calls to action, including helping Indigenous Albertans reclaim their traditional Indigenous names.”

In response to the province’s decision, the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) is filing formal policy grievances against Alberta-regulated employers that are refusing to acknowledge the federal holiday.

The Union has said that some employers, like Alberta Health Services, have collective agreements which compel employers to acknowledge holidays created by the federal government.

Assembly of First Nations Alberta Association Regional Chief, Marlene Poitras, is also not pleased with the province’s decision.

“There have been too many stories in recent days of this provincial government ignoring First Nations peoples and communities in the province,” she said. “Why won’t the government step up and acknowledge this day, which directly responds to the TRC calls to action?”

“This refusal to formally acknowledge the Sept. 30th federal holiday within Alberta flies in the face of reconciliation with First Nations and shows a disdain and lack of care or respect for Alberta’s Indigenous population,” Poitras concluded.

Among the provinces not recognizing the federal holiday are Ontario and Saskatchewan. Among the cities not recognizing the statuatory holiday is the City of Edmonton.

The City of Calgary, however, has stepped up and decided to legislate the day by making it a permanent statutory holiday for all city employees.

September 30 will see the City of Calgary at reduced services and operations.

Calgary City Manager David Duckworth said, “This National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is incredibly important to reflect on a relevant issue in our society . . . It’s an opportunity for us to understand, grow and to build bridges with Indigenous people.”

The city has also announced that special events to commemorate the day will be released on its website as the date approaches.

Jacob Cardinal, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Alberta Native News

THE KENNEY EFFECT

Burned out and demoralized: Some Alberta nurses look to leave amid province's bid to cut pay
Jennifer Lee 

© Leah Hennel/AHS A registered nurse and a volunteer with Alberta Health Services sit outside a room on an intensive care unit in May 2021, while family members behind the curtain say their goodbyes to a loved one dying of COVID-19.

After working the front lines through three gruelling waves of the pandemic, and now facing the prospect of pay cuts, some Alberta nurses say they're exhausted, demoralized and looking to get out — prompting concerns about the future of health care in the province.

"It was terrifying. … other people were told to stay home and we were told to go to work," said Edmonton emergency room registered nurse Jessica McGrath, who described facing heartbreaking scenes of patients needing to be intubated, struggling for their lives and dying alone.

"We are the ones that are seeing COVID at its worst."

But as the province emerged from its most recent COVID-19 surge — and negotiations between the United Nurses of Alberta (UNA), Alberta Health Services and Covenant Health resumed — nurses were presented with a three per cent wage rollback proposal. Including other changes, UNA argues it amounts to a five per cent cut.

"That was a huge slap in the face to a lot of us," said McGrath.

All this prompted McGrath to take a temporary one-year position — away from the front lines.

"I've never seen morale this low," she said. "We don't have the same spirit that we used to."
'I've never been more burned out'

McGrath is not alone.

A registered nurse in the emergency department at Edmonton's Royal Alexandra Hospital — which temporarily closed a number of beds recently due to staffing shortages — says she too is looking to get off the front lines.

CBC has agreed to withhold her name because she is concerned about professional repercussions.

"I've worked in this department for close to 15 years and I've never felt so physically and emotionally drained as I do now. I've never been more burned out," she said.

The Edmonton nurse reviews the AHS job board every day, looking for a position outside of the ER.

Senior staff, she said, started leaving her department about a year ago. That intensified when negotiations resumed, punctuated by the proposed wage cut.

"People have even gone into the private sector. People have taken travel nursing contracts. People need out," she said.
Nurses leaving the province

"I've never had so many conversations with my colleagues on the job postings in different provinces," said Christopher Picard, an Edmonton-based registered nurse and spokesperson for the National Emergency Nurses Association of Alberta.

He plans to wait out the negotiations but said a move out of province has been on his mind.

"Having proposed wage cuts brought in after a once in a century pandemic — it does seem like a little bit of a betrayal," he said.

"Are people having these discussions? Yeah. Are people leaving? Yeah."

© CBC Heather Smith, president of the United Nurses of Alberta.

Despite these stories, Premier Jason Kenney refutes the idea that nurses are leaving.

"I wouldn't agree that people would move from Alberta to receive lower pay in other provinces and to pay higher taxes. That wouldn't add up," he said when asked by CBC News on Thursday.

"He's wrong," said Heather Smith, president of the United Nurses of Alberta, the union that represents registered nurses in Alberta.

Some senior nurses have already taken jobs in B.C., according to Smith. Anecdotally, she's heard of nurses leaving for Ontario too, where some hospitals are offering signing bonuses as a recruitment incentive.

"[Alberta nurses] are just not prepared to deal with the kind of disrespect they're feeling here in the province," she said. "They want workplaces that respect them and value [their] contributions … And they're quite prepared to do it in other locations."

The frustration among nurses — who haven't had a raise for five years — is ballooning, according to Smith, who compares today's tensions with the turmoil that led to a strike in 1988 when thousands of nurses walked off the job.

"I haven't seen this kind of anger and demand for action in decades," she said.

According to Smith, there is growing support for a strike which, by law, would require several steps including formal mediation since nurses are deemed essential workers.

She said discussions about non-union-sanctioned wildcat strikes are percolating and UNA is working to set up a day of action in August — along with other health-care unions — including information pickets at hospitals around the province.

"Increasingly there are members saying, 'Why wait?'" said Smith. "But we will do everything we can to attempt to respect the process by law."

Province holds line on wage cuts

Even with the growing unrest, Jason Kenney isn't wavering.

He's made no secret of the fact he wants to balance Alberta's books and that health-care spending, which accounts for nearly 45 per cent of the provincial budget, is a prime target.

Kenney said he appreciates the hard work of nurses through the pandemic and repeated his government's stance that Alberta nurses receive on average 5.6 per cent higher compensation than those in the rest of Canada.

"Alberta has a $16-billion deficit. We've been running massive deficits for a decade. We cannot continue to do that indefinitely," he said. "This government, at least, is not going to raise taxes to punish people who've already been hurting in the private sector — so we have to learn how to operate a little more efficiently. And that's the basis of our initial position in the collective bargaining agreement."
Government actions seen as 'needlessly aggressive'

Kenney's tactics could be seen as "needlessly aggressive" at a time when support for Alberta health-care workers has skyrocketed due to the pandemic, according to Lori Williams, associate professor of policy studies at Mount Royal University.

"It looks to me like there's a lot more support for health-care workers in general than there is for the government's response to health-care workers," said Williams, pointing to the acrimonious relationship with Alberta doctors after the province tore up their master agreement last year and announced a plan last fall to lay off many as 11,000 AHS employees and outsource their jobs to private companies.

The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) recently went back to the bargaining table too and was presented with a wage cut proposal of its own: four per cent for general support workers.

"The government keeps saying that it appreciates the sacrifices that were made by front-line health-care workers, but doesn't indicate that by their actions," said Williams.

Kenney's methods are strikingly reminiscent of the deep health-care cuts levelled by Premier Ralph Klein during the 1990s, according to Lorian Hardcastle, associate professor specializing in health law and policy at the University of Calgary.

"I think when you cut too quickly and too deeply, you risk really destabilizing the healthcare system," said Hardcastle. "That's what we saw during the Klein years and it took subsequent governments years to rebuild that health workforce, to rebuild that health-care system. And I think we may be putting ourselves in a difficult position right now."

If the Kenney government holds the line on wage cuts for nurses, Hardcastle said the relationship between the two sides will likely grow more acrimonious and it could have lasting effects on a system already battling staffing shortages and bed closures.

"Not only will there be disruption in the short term, but [there] could be longer-term problems with recruitment and retention that affect the health-care system for many years. And that can play out in terms of longer wait times for surgeries … it can result in more hallway medicine," she said.

"And that's the sort of thing that it takes a long time to recover from and rebuild."

 

UCP has essentially seized control of all public-sector pension plans in the province

JANUARY 14, 2021

And they’re coming for the retirement nest eggs saved by Albertans through the Canada Pension Plan, too

EDMONTON - The presidents of the Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL) and Alberta’s largest public-sector unions held a news conference today to condemn the latest actions taken by the Kenney government to effectively seize control of pension savings belonging to hundreds of thousands of Albertans.

“It’s not just the teachers’ pension plan that’s subject to the new terms imposed by the Finance Minister. They’re also going after the pensions of hundreds of thousands of Albertans working for Alberta Health Services, school boards, municipalities, the provincial government and universities and colleges,” said AFL president, Gil McGowan. “What’s happening is unprecedented, outrageous and brazen.”

The leaders at the news conference included McGowan, Guy Smith, president of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE); Heather Smith, president of the United Nurses of Alberta (UNA); Mike Parker, president of the Health Sciences Association of Alberta (HSAA); and Rory Gill, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, Alberta Division (CUPE).

The leaders say that Ministerial Orders issued on January 4th by Alberta’s Finance Minister are essentially designed to finish the work that the government started in the fall of 2019 with the passage of Bill 22.

Bill 22 stripped all of Alberta’s public-sector pension boards of the power to choose who would manage their investments, decreeing that AIMCo – an agency that is wholly owned and controlled by the government – will be the sole monopoly provider of investment services.

What’s significant about the new Ministerial Orders is that they build on the power and control already granted by the government to AIMCo at the expense of the pension boards.

“Now, as a result of these orders, not only will AIMCo be the monopoly provider of investment management services, they will also be able to ignore the wishes of the pension plans when it comes to decisions about how the retirement savings of workers and retirees should be invested,” said McGowan.

“In other words, AIMCo and the Finance Minister will be the deciders – and the hundreds of employers and hundreds of thousands of workers who actually pay into the plans will simply have to shut up, take what they’re given and trust that the government and AIMCo will do what’s best. This paternalistic approach is entirely at odds with industry norms and with the way pensions are managed in other provinces.”

The union presidents say this is “perverse” because the money in question – more than $100 billion – doesn’t belong to the government or to AIMCo. It belongs to the more than 400,000 Albertans who have been using Alberta’s public plans, as vehicles, to save for their retirements.

“With Bill 22 and these Ministerial Orders, the Kenney government has essentially seized control of vast sums of money that is not theirs. The Finance Minister and the Premier might call this administrative reform. We call it theft,” said McGowan.

The big question is: why is the Kenney government doing this? The union leaders think they have an answer.

“We think Jason Kenney’s end game is to use the retirement savings of hundreds of thousands of Albertan to prop up oil and gas ventures in the province that are having an increasingly difficult time raising money from global investors and international markets,” said McGowan. “To be clear: we are not opposed to all oil and gas investments. What we ARE opposed to is a system in which the government gives itself the power to invest other people’s money in risky ventures without their permission.”

The union leaders said they will respond to the UCP’s “pension theft” with a legal challenge and an aggressive member campaign to pressure MLAs. They will also campaign against government efforts to pull Alberta out of the Canada Pension Plan (CPP).

“We think what we’re witnessing with these ministerial orders is just part of Jason Kenney’s grand vision. We think the UCP is also set on seizing the retirement money that all Albertans save through CPP and handing it over to AIMCo under similar terms that have now been imposed on public-sector pension plans.”

A full copy of McGowan’s remarks can be found here.

-30-

STILL GOING TO IMPOSE  AUSTERITY ON PUBLIC SECTOR WORKERS

Alberta halves projected budget deficit to $7.8B; credits global boost in oil demand


EDMONTON — New numbers show Alberta's bottom line is on track to look better this fiscal year, but the province remains mired in a deep ditch of red ink as it battles a resurgence of COVID-19.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Finance Minister Travis Toews said Tuesday that this year's deficit is projected to be $7.8 billion, less than half of the $18.2 billion projected in the 2021-22 budget in February.

He said benchmarks such as GDP projections, consumer spending, exports and housing starts are all far above projections made six months ago.

"Economic growth is exceeding our expectations," Toews told reporters.

The government credits the turnaround to an ongoing economic recovery from COVID-19, along with a rebound in the energy sector and price restraint by the oil cartel OPEC.

"Global demand for oil has outstripped supply, meaning oil prices are stronger than expected," said Toews.

West Texas Intermediate, the benchmark price for oil, was expected to fetch US$46 a barrel in the budget, but has been rising sharply and is expected to average more than US$65 a barrel this year.

Alberta's non-renewable resource revenue is now forecast at almost $10 billion, which is $7 billion more than first projected in February.

The overall revenue forecast is $55 billion, about $11 billion more than expected.

Total expense is now pegged at $62.7 billion. That's almost $1 billion more than planned, due mainly to anticipated crop insurance payouts caused by extreme drought this summer.

Toews reiterated there would be a plan to balance the books after COVID, but in the meantime, taxpayer-supported debt is projected to reach nearly $106 billion by next March, with debt interest payments pegged at $2.6 billion.

Toews said the government will keep trying to find savings — including a proposal to cut wages for nurses now bargaining for a new collective agreement.

THEY ARE CONTRACTING OUT HOSPITAL SUPPORT STAFF, HOUSE KEEPING, FOOD SERVICES AND LAUNDRY, THEY ARE CUTTING WAGES FOR REMAINING SUPPORT STAFF BY 4%, THEY ARE ALSO CALLING FOR CUTS TO WAGES FOR AUPE GENERAL SERVICES MEMBERS THIS IS KLEIN AGENDA FROM THE BAD OLD NINETIES

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for LAUNDERY WORKERS 

The economic improvement comes as Alberta battles a steep rise in COVID-19 cases linked to the more contagious Delta variant.

There were a thousand new cases a day reported last week, but that number dropped slightly on the weekend and was at 920 on Tuesday. There were 431 people in hospital with COVID, 106 of whom were in intensive care.

Premier Jason Kenney’s government lifted almost all health restrictions two months ago and Kenney, chief medical officer Dr. Deena Hinshaw and Health Minister Tyler Shandro have not spoken to reporters for weeks to address whether anything would be done on the rising case rates.

In their absence, municipal, business and education leaders have moved on their own, implementing a patchwork quilt of masking, testing and vaccination rules.

Toews challenged reporters who suggested the province is failing to lead through the pandemic, noting officials have issued statements and social media updates as required.

"We have not kept anybody in the dark," he said.

As for the economy, he said: "We've factored in the issue of the pandemic.

"It's been expected that the fourth wave is going to be a bit bumpy."

The Opposition NDP said Toews can't take credit for an economic rebound based on the ups and downs of global oil prices, and said that any continued economic recovery depends on a robust, responsible strategy to deal with the COVID surge.

"The government has flatly abandoned Albertans at a time when the fourth wave of COVID-19 is larger than they ever warned it would be," said NDP jobs critic Deron Bilous.

"They've abandoned us as uptake of life-saving vaccines has levelled off and Alberta is amongst the worst in the country in this regard.

"If the finance minister can't level with Albertans about his government's horrendous mishandling of this pandemic, we can't take him at his word about this government's so-called economic plan, either."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 31, 2021.

Dean Bennett, The Canadian Press

CLASS WAR IN ALBERTA 
BUILD THE COMMON FRONT FOR A GENERAL STRIKE!

Hundreds gather at Alberta Federation of Labour convention in Calgary, May 4, 2019

“We are very worried that what we are going to see as early as the first session of the legislature, which starts within weeks, is an unprecedented attack on the rights of working people in this province,” said AFL president Gil McGowan.  

McGowan said Kenney’s proposed corporate tax cuts have to come from somewhere, suggesting that it will lead to nearly 60,000 lost jobs over a four-year period. McGowan pointed to a study done for the organization during the election campaign that focused on the employment impacts of a UCP government. He said Premier Jason Kenney’s economic plan requires a cut of more than $7 billion in annual program spending by the fourth year to eliminate the deficit by 2023.
https://globalnews.ca/news/5241090/alberta-federation-of-labour-convention-calgary

AND THEY FAILED TO ANNOUNCE ANY PLAN TO BUILD A COMMON FRONT TO CONFRONT WHAT THEY KNOW WAS COMING, RESISTANCE NEEDS PLANNING, AND ORGANIZING A MASS UNION GENERAL STRIKE! INCLUDING THE BUILDING TRADES AND PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS (ATA)! CIVIL SOCIETY SOLIDARITY ACTIONS AND INFORMATION PICKETS REQUIRED AS AUPE IS CURRENTLY DOING THE LATER. INFO ON INFO PICKETS ARE ON THEIR FACEBOOK PAGE 

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2019/06/blog-post_287.html

The Edmonton General Strike of 1919 - Eugene Plawiuk - Libcom.org

https://libcom.org/library/edmonton-general-strike-1919-eugene-plawiuk

Sep 21, 2007 - Eugene Plawiuk's account of the Edmonton general strike of 1919 which was sparked off in solidarity with the general strike in Winnipeg,.

Calgary 1919: The Birth of the OBU and the General Strike - 

https://libcom.org/library/calgary-1919-birth-obu-general-strike-eugene-plawiuk

Sep 21, 2007 - Eugene Plawiuk's history of the Calgary general strike of 1919, which started off as a sympathy strike for the Winnipeg general strike and soon ...

Smith announced Wednesday sweeping changes to dismantle Alberta Health Services

"It almost seems like change purely for the sake of change."

EDMONTON — Premier Danielle Smith says Alberta's provincewide health provider has lost its way, grown too big and become unaccountable, and that a massive reorganization can no longer wait.

Smith announced Wednesday sweeping changes to dismantle Alberta Health Services, reducing it to one of four new service delivery organizations, all reporting directly to Health Minister Adriana LaGrange.

"This isn't change for the sake of change," Smith said Wednesday at a news conference near the legislature.

"The current Alberta health-care system is one that has forgotten who should be at the centre of its existence — patients and the health-care experts who look after them."

She said some improvements have been made on finding family doctors and reducing wait times for care and surgeries, but added it's not enough and her government needs the legislative tools to make changes.

"The current health system in our province limits government's ability to provide systemwide oversight," she said.

"It also limits our ability to set priorities and require accountability for meeting them."

The transformation is to take up to two years, and while Smith says front-line health jobs will be protected, "you're going to see a process of streamlining in the management layers.

Alberta Health Services, or AHS, was created 15 years ago, amalgamating disparate health regions into one superboard tasked with centralizing decision-making, patient care and procurement.

Its annual operating budget is about $17 billion. It has 112,000 direct employees with thousands more working in labs, as physicians, and in community care facilities.

Under the proposed new system, Alberta will still have an integrated provincewide health system but with its fundamental structure and decision-making drastically altered.

AHS currently acts as an arm's-length body, with its own governing board, making decisions to implement policies set by LaGrange's Health Ministry.

Under the changes, all decisions will be squarely in the purview of LaGrange and the new oversight body she will chair, named the Integration Council.

AHS is currently subdivided into five geographic regions. The new model erases the geographic regions and creates four new subgroups organized not by geography, but by service delivery.

There will be a new acute care organization, responsible for running hospitals and, for the time being, lab and ambulance services.

AHS will become a service delivery provider answering to that organization.

Alongside the new acute care organization would be a primary care organization, with a mandate to find a family doctor for every Albertan.

There would be a continuing-care organization to oversee and run those facilities.

The fourth agency, a mental health and addiction organization, would work directly with the Mental Health and Addiction Ministry to further the broader goal of a recovery-oriented system.

All groups report to LaGrange or, in the case of the fourth group, to Mental Health and Addiction Minister Dan Williams.

Input and ideas are to be sought from 12 regional committees and one Indigenous advisory panel.

Smith said the rationale for the new model is to focus on the ultimate goal of reducing long wait times and overcrowding in emergency rooms.

Smith said ensuring Albertans get better and faster access to community care, to a family doctor, and to mental health and addiction treatment means they won't have to resort to the emergency room to get help.

"All roads lead to the emergency room," she said.

The details of the overhaul were leaked earlier this week by the Opposition NDP.

NDP Leader Rachel Notley said the reorganization represents full politicization of health care concentrated in Smith's office.

She said it will bring chaos, because the four new groups will inevitably intersect and overlap.

Notley said the move also opens the door to further health privatization. The leaked cabinet briefing notes said the United Conservative Party government will look at selling off AHS continuing-care subsidiaries CapitalCare Group and Carewest.

During question period Wednesday, Smith said that information is out of date and they have since received advice that CapitalCare and Carewest should remain with the province.

“Every decision that we make is going to be under the auspices of a publicly funded health-care system,” Smith said.

“There'll be no privatizing.”

Health policy analyst Lorian Hardcastle said it's not clear how transforming the system into four service-delivery areas improves patient care.

Hardcastle said the whole point of having AHS was so patients could move smoothly between primary care to acute care to continuing care.

"This system that is being implemented will not facilitate this," said Hardcastle, an assistant professor at the University of Calgary specializing in health law and policy.

"What it's going to do is put the services back into silos, and it's not clear how this won't impede that smooth facilitation of patients and how we won't see patients fall through the cracks.

"It almost seems like change purely for the sake of change."

Dr. Paul Parks, president of the Alberta Medical Association, said, "While the details and impacts are unclear, what is clear is that physician engagement in each of these new organizations will be critical.

"The AMA will advocate for our voice at the decision-making tables."

The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees called the plan short-sighted, disruptive and damaging.

"Nothing in these reforms addresses the short-staffing crisis and it might even drive more workers away from the front lines and hinder attracting new workers," said AUPE president Guy Smith.

"The government's plan will only take things from bad to worse."

Heather Smith, president of the United Nurses of Alberta, said the changes fail to address urgent problems like wait-lists, surgery delays and ambulance bottlenecks.

"We have severe deficits in terms of people and capacity in our health-care system," she said, adding none of that was because of the structure of AHS.

"They've made the wrong diagnosis and absolutely prescribed the wrong treatment."

The premier's announcement ends simmering tensions between the province and AHS that exploded in full view during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Former premier Jason Kenney said AHS provided faulty bed numbers that hamstrung his cabinet during the crisis. Danielle Smith sharply criticized AHS for not providing adequate beds during COVID-19, as well as for mask and gathering rules she said exacerbated social woes and led to staff shortages at AHS.

In the last two years, the UCP government has replaced AHS president Dr. Verna Yiu, replaced chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw and fired the AHS board.

LaGrange announced Wednesday that a new AHS board is to be chaired by former Alberta cabinet minister Lyle Oberg. It is tasked with winding down AHS operations and transitioning to its new mandate.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2023.

— With files from Colette Derworiz in Calgary

Dean Bennett, The Canadian Press

David Staples: Big plans mean zilch if Danielle Smith fails to deliver on promise of better health care

Opinion by David Staples, Edmonton Journal • 1d

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith outlines how the province plans to refocus the health care system during a news conference in Edmonton on Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2023.
© Provided by Edmonton Journal

Premier Danielle Smith can have all the big plans in the world but they will mean zilch if she fails to deliver on the promise of better health care.

At the news conference announcing major changes in the operation of Alberta’s health care system, Smith and Health Minister Adriana LaGrange did all they could to convince anxious Albertans worried about a hidden UCP agenda of privatization, job cuts and budget cuts and user pay to swallow a gargantuan chill pill.

“I want to be clear about what this plan isn’t and what it is not,” said Smith. “I made a public health care guarantee to Albertans that means no one will ever pay out of pocket for a visit to a doctor or for hospital services, and that is not changing. These reforms have nothing to do with privatization. They are also not about cuts. Alberta’s government will continue to grow the health care workforce.”

But what about the twin elephants in the room of any serious health care reform — rising costs and poor preventive medicine?

Our individual health and the system itself are threatened by ballooning costs of ever more numerous and expensive treatments and also by our lack of activity and diet of unhealthy processed foods, which can lead us to get major illnesses such as cancer, diabetes, stroke and heart attacks earlier in life.

Smith’s plan is focused first on the obvious crisis, how to lessen the tidal wave of patients overwhelming emergency rooms. But one key health care leader, Dr. Susan Prendergast, who has a Ph.D. in nursing and is president of the Nurse Practitioners Association of Alberta, said that in solving the emergency room crisis concerns over our collective deteriorating health will also be addressed.

Close to one million Albertans don’t have a primary care provider, which forces people to flood into emergency rooms, Prendergast told me in an interview.

But Prendergast said Smith’s government is bringing in a major fix, permitting nurse practitioners like her to open clinics on their own and independently provide primary care. A nurse practitioner is a registered nurse with years of field experience and a master’s degree in primary care who can essentially take on the role of family doctor.

There are 853 nurse practitioners registered in the province but they’ve only been allowed to be physician’s aids up until now, Prendergast said. Alberta is the last province to allow nurse practitioners to do what family doctors do.

“There’s an entire workforce that hasn’t been utilized up until now,” Prendergast said, adding the plan is to have 300 to 500 nurse practitioner clinics open in three years, each practitioner serving about 1,000 patients.

Prendergast praised Smith and LaGrange with pushing ahead the nurse practitioner program after years of political inaction. Prendergast said 96 per cent of nurse practitioners are women, and pointedly noted it helped having two women in power to approve the change. “It was a priority for (Smith) and she made sure we are where we are.”

Nurse practitioners are looking for equal pay for doing equal work of family physicians, but there will be one crucial difference. Nurse practitioners won’t be paid on the fee-for-service model, but will get a salary. This will allow them to spend more time with each patient and dig in and make changes to prevent poor health down the road, Prendergast said.

“The system of fee-for-service doesn’t allow primary caregivers to do that. It’s short, brief appointments. When you provide a funding model to a primary care provider that allows for flexibility in the time spent with the patient, they spend the time on lifestyle management. That is one thing nurse practitioners do extremely well. Every single appointment we’re talking about diet, exercise, smoking, alcohol use, drug use.”

It’s staggering when you deal with patients who have never been asked about their sleep patterns or how much and what kind of exercise they do. “They’ve been told they have high cholesterol but they’re given no support around addressing it, except a medication. And that’s unacceptable.”

The current model is also expensive for taxpayers as patients come in with multiple serious conditions. “It’s great to say that people should stay home (for home care) but the reality is they’re too sick to stay home. We’ve got to take a more preventive approach, otherwise nothing will improve.”

Again, the only thing that matters with Smith’s plan is better results. We shall see.

But the nurse practitioner part of the overall plan looks like it will work, helping us all get better so we delay getting woefully sick. It represents a crucial step in the right direction.

dstaples@postmedia.com

New bill would halt ethics investigations of politicians during Alberta election campaigns

Story by Paige Parsons • CBC

Alberta's ethics commissioner will suspend investigations into provincial politicians during future election periods if proposed legislation becomes law.

A bill tabled by Justice Minister Mickey Amery Thursday proposes updating several pieces of justice legislation, including a change that would suspend investigations by the ethics commissioner during the period leading up to a general election.

"Voters are entitled to proceed during an election without undue influence. These amendments help eliminate some of those influences," Amery said.

Amery said he doesn't believe the change will result in important information being kept back from voters because he says there are other mechanisms to keep governments accountable to the public.

The minister said the proposed change was prompted by a recommendation from Alberta ethics commissioner Marguerite Trussler, who pointed to similar Ontario legislation that sees investigations paused from when the writs are issued for a general election until the polls close and the votes are counted.



Alberta Ethics Commissioner Marguerite Trussler made a reccomendation that ethics investigations be suspended during election periods. (Alberta Legislature)© Provided by cbc.ca

Trussler recommended that the legislative assembly consider the change in her May 2023 report in which she found that Premier Danielle Smith had contravened the Conflicts of Interest Act during interactions with the minister of justice in relation to criminal charges faced by Calgary street preacher Artur Pawlowski.

"Not having such a provision puts the Ethics Commissioner and the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly in an extremely difficult position with respect to the timing and release of any report," Trussler wrote.

Her report was released on May 18, just 11 days before Alberta held its general election when Smith and the United Conservative Party went on to recapture a majority government.

Trussler's findings followed an investigation that began on March 31 after a member of the public asked if there were ongoing investigations into whether Smith pressured cabinet members or employees of the government in relation to the Coutts border blockade.

The complaint followed a January CBC news story about the premier's office contacting Crown prosecutors by email about COVID-related prosecutions.

Trussler wrote that she found no evidence of emails, and CBC has since updated its reporting.

'Doesn't add up'

The proposal to suspend ethics investigations during elections is puzzling, says University of British Columbia political scientist Max Cameron.

"It looks like the premier has got herself into trouble around conflict of interest and the solution is, well, we're not going to have conflict of interest investigations during an election," Cameron said.

"It just doesn't sort of seem to add up."

Cameron said he also thinks it's odd that the commissioner herself made the recommendation at the end of a report where an investigation during an election period ended up finding that a conflict of interest occurred.

He said that while it's important for ethics commissioners to be politically sensitive, they ought to be able to use discretion about whether or not it makes sense to proceed with an investigation or to release a report.

"You know elections are short, right? If you don't want to release a report in the middle of an election, you hold off on doing that. I just don't get that. It just seems, to me, very strange," Cameron said.

Earlier this week, a legislative committee voted to replace both Trussler and the province's chief electoral officer, Glen Resler. The standing committee on legislative officers voted to establish selection committees to replace each position.

Both non-partisan positions have contracts that expire in May 2024, and Amery said Thursday that Trussler is welcome to apply for the job again.

CLASS WAR IN ALBERTA

Opinion: Two-tier minimum wage will cost older workers their jobs

CALGARY HERALD

Updated: June 7, 2019

Alexander Shevalier, president of the Calgary and District Labour Council, says the new two-tier minimum wage will likely cost older workers their jobs. POSTMEDIA

Premier Jason Kenney’s cavalier approach to the minimum wage has led to one of Bill 2’s most regressive changes in a piece of legislation filled with them.

By lowering the minimum wage to $13 from $15 for an estimated 35,000 workers aged 13-17 — for the first 28 hours per week when school is in session and for all hours worked during the summer — the UCP has kept one of its most controversial election promises while facilitating the increased exploitation of young workers for the sake of higher private profits.

This isn’t the first time a conservative government has implemented an age-based minimum wage differential in Alberta. We had one in the 1990s, called a “training wage,” that allowed employers to pay 50 cents less per hour to those under 18.

The Klein government, however, nixed its unequal youth wage in 1998.

“One, we know that employees, particularly young people, are far more job-ready than they’ve ever been before,” then labour minister Murray Smith told the legislature.

“Secondly, we had evidence where that training wage was being abused by employers, abused to the point where it had to be eliminated. We took that action.”

A two-tiered, unequal youth wage system, as some have speculated it might do in Alberta since Bill 2 was tabled, encourages discriminatory hiring and firing practices. Known as the “substitution effect,” jurisdictions with differential minimum wages have experienced as much.

Australia’s age-tiered wage regime led to “learn or churn” conditions that often result in lower hours for aging workers, or outright replacement. One McDonald’s employee in Queensland called the gradual phase-out of older workers an “unspoken rule.”

While Australia’s youth wages are more extreme at the margins — a 14-year-old worker could make as much as 50 per cent less than their adult colleagues, with incremental wage increases every year until they reach 21 — the incentive to reduce the hours of older workers still exists.

“They use casual employment and junior rates to basically cycle workers off under the apprehension that those workers are going to get more hours as they get more skills in the workplace,” one fast food union rep in Australia said.

Wage differentials in Denmark saw unemployment levels rise by upwards of 33 per cent when workers reached the standard adult wage-earning age. The Danish study also found that hiring slowdowns occur for workers in the months approaching their 18th birthday.

While employment levels declined by a third for Danish workers who’ve turned 18 years old, those levels didn’t start to recover until they reached their 20s. This employment gap could lead to what researchers call a “scarring effect” on those young workers’ career prospects later in life.

Ensuring all workers are paid a standardized minimum wage — preferably a living wage — is the easiest way to prevent employers from the discriminatory practices detailed above.

But young workers are easy targets. They aren’t of voting age, many of their workplaces aren’t unionized, and they are now forced onto even more precarious financial footing because this government believes their labour is less valuable than their adult colleagues’.

While there are legal protections against age discrimination covered by the Alberta Human Rights Act for workers over the age of 18, enforcement is often ineffective. It is unclear how instances of “learn or churn”-style discrimination might be handled in the Alberta context if they occur.

It is also difficult to imagine young, freshly churned workers pursuing costly civil litigation against discriminatory employers.

Considering the hike to $15 last year did not bankrupt the province’s service sector or result in recession-level job losses predicted by some, the UCP’s take-it-or-leave-it “$13 is better than $0” attitude is confusing.

Along with Bill 2’s other anti-labour provisions, it is plain to see that this is a government preparing for a longer fight against Alberta workers. Kenney should heed the advice of former minister Smith and scrap this two-tier minimum wage.

Alexander Shevalier is the president of the Calgary and District Labour Council.

SEE

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