An application by a group of Licensed Practical Nurses for their jobs to be reclassified as part of Alberta’s Direct Nursing Care bargaining unit on the not-unreasonable grounds that direct nursing care is what they provide has been summarily dismissed by the Alberta Labour Relations Board. Calgary LPN Quintin Martin
Continue readingTag: Alberta Labour Relations Board
Alberta Politics: Alberta Labour Board ruling yesterday in response to 2020 wildcat strike could cost AUPE $1.6 million
The Alberta Labour Relations Board has ruled that the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees broke the law when some of its health care members took part in a short illegal strike in the fall of 2020 and yesterday ordered Alberta Health Services to stop collecting union dues, assessments and other
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Guest post: The Website that Time Forgot
I’ve spent a lot of time on the Alberta Labour Relations Board website this past week and as a result I was reminded of this clever satire sent to me by my friend “Art Sifton,” the social media gadfly found at @ArtSifton, as a guest post a few weeks ago.
Continue readingAlberta Politics: UCP plan to lay off 11,000 public sector health workers sparks wildcat walkouts at 45 Alberta health facilities
Infuriated at the Kenney Government’s determination to lay off 11,000 public sector health care workers and privatize their jobs, members of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees walked off the job in a province-wide wildcat strike yesterday morning. Last night, the Alberta Labour Relations Board ruled the work stoppage to
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta union leaders summoned to provocative weekend ‘consultation’ by Kenney Government
Alberta union leaders have been summoned to a “labour relations consultation” next weekend in Edmonton at which they will be informed how Premier Jason Kenney’s government plans to “protect workers from being forced to fund political parties and causes.” The announcement of the one-hour meetings came in an email from
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Want to bust your Alberta union? Your government will give you one hour’s free legal advice!
Credit where credit is due, the Kenney Government’s new Employee Labour Relations Support Program does answer questions from union members who write in and ask them. Leastways, the nascent Bust-Your-Union Line that was announced by United Conservative Party Labour Minister Jason Copping on Oct. 1 did respond to my query about
Continue readingAlberta Politics: ‘How can we help you bust your union?’ Alberta Government launches ‘employee support program’
The Government of Alberta launched its promised “Employee Labour Relations Support Program” yesterday. Apparently they’ll not only tell you how to certify a union, they’ll tell you how to decertify one too! Busting a union used to be easier back in the days of the old Progressive Conservatives, who weren’t
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta Party and Freedom Conservative Party leaders form weekend blips on provincial political radar
Here comes the leader of the One True Conservative Party! Here comes the leader of the other One True Conservative Party! Actually, there are three One True Conservative parties in Alberta nowadays. Maybe more if you don’t blink. But there are three that have the potential to play a consequential
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Prominent labour activist, plus well-known chanteuse and LGBTQ+ activist, named to Alberta Order of Excellence
What a pleasure it was yesterday to see Reg Basken’s name on the 2018 list of eight new members of the Alberta Order of Excellence. There was a day I wasn’t at all sure it was even possible for someone associated with a trade union to be honoured in this
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Schiaparelli lander missing; ground control still in contact with Postmedia; prognosis grim for both
PHOTOS: An artist’s impression of the Schiaparelli Mars Lander descending gently toward the Martian surface. Schiaparelli’s actual Mars landings may not have unfolded exactly as illustrated by the European Space Agency. Below: The evocative cover of today’s National Post. About 178 million kilometres from us yesterday, give or take, Europe’s
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Wildrose blames NDP for a sensible labour relations practice implemented in 2013 by Alison Redford’s Tories
PHOTOS: Alberta Premier Alison Redford was welcomed to the annual convention of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees by AUPE President Guy Smith in October 2012. And what does the Wildrose Party make of that? Below: Former Tory Premier Ralph Klein…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Board of Governors appears to openly defy Notley Government as Athabasca University crisis deepens
PHOTOS: Athabasca University’s administrative building, just outside the Town of Athabasca, about 150 kilometres north of Edmonton, as seen from the air. Below: Alberta Advanced Education Minister Lori Sigurdson, interim Athabasca University Presiden…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Starting with the A’s in Alberta: Archer is in; Asbell is on the way out
PHOTOS: A chaotic scene, not atypical of Alberta labour relations in the Age of Asbell, shot with a phone camera in the offices of the Alberta Labour Relations Board in Edmonton. Below: ALRB Chair Mark Asbell and former CBC reporter John Archer. Sorry about the lousy photos, but, hey, I’m
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Redford Government resorts to bush-league law breaking as talks with civil servants hit another impasse
Members of the Alberta Government plan their latest strategy to hold the unionized civil service’s approximately 44,000 feet to the fire in negotiations. Actual government officials may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: William Aberhart. Bargaining with the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees at an impasse again, so the government
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Time to change Alberta Labour Minister’s dual role, and maybe more, to ensure fair and equitable labour relations
Some roles just don’t seem to be a good match for the same person. Here are five examples. Perhaps Alberta Labour Minister Thomas Lukaszuk, below, finds himself in such a position? Can Thomas Lukaszuk properly fulfill his dual roles as Alberta’s Minister of Labour and chair of the all-but-secret Public
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Alberta government ponders ‘options’ as independent arbitrator overturns firing of jail guards who took part in illegal strike
AUPE Correctional Officers rally at the picket line outside the Edmonton Remand Centre during their illegal strike in June 2013. Below: Arbitrator Andy Sims; former deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk, as imagined by Sun Media; AUPE President Guy Smith. An independent arbitrator has overturned the firing of four Correctional Officers who
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Deputy minister testifies officials prepared anti-labour Bill 46 ‘proactively’ long before cabinet asked for it
AUPE President Guy Smith speaks with the media after Friday’s session of the Alberta Labour Relations Board hearing. Below: Deputy Minister of the Executive Council Peter Watson; AUPE lawyer William Rigutto. It’s probably too much to hope the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees can persuade the Alberta Labour Relations Board
Continue readingAlberta Diary: If the deputy premier wants free speech for Ukraine so badly, why is he attacking it in Alberta?
Alberta Deputy Premier Thomas Lukaszuk in the Rotunda of the Alberta Legislature. Note, in the background at left, Wildrose Opposition Leader Danielle Smith. Below, a recent Twitter message from Mr. Lukaszuk, an inveterate and confrontational Tweeter, who thinks your free speech rights are a matter of LOL and #wink. Last
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Who leaked the Alberta government’s response to AUPE’s Labour Board complaint, and why?
AUPE President Guy Smith in a characteristic pose. Who leaked the Alberta government’s response to the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees’ unfair labour practices complaint to an Edmonton Journal political reporter, and why? This is an important question because at the time the leak took place, the government document questioning
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Negotiating with Alberta’s PC government? Better bring witnesses!
Wildcat strike scene, grabbed from AUPE’s website during the strike. Below: AUPE President Guy Smith, Deputy Premier Thomas Lukaszuk. Advice to anyone who tries to negotiate a deal with Alison Redford, Thomas Lukaszuk or any member or official of their government: take witnesses with you, and make sure you also
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