Six months ago, Premier Alison Redford hailed Alberta's public-sector workers as heroes for the work they did during and after the floods that devastated the southern half of our province.
Redford was right to celebrate both the work and the work ethic of these amazing Albertans. Unfortunately, the premier's warm words have been replaced by a very cold shoulder.
Over the past few weeks, the government has undermined the pensions of these workers, and brought in unconstitutional anti-worker legislation with Bills 45 and 46.
Bill 46 breaks the historic bargain that former premier Peter Lougheed struck with public sector workers.
Unlike other provinces that prohibit certain categories of workers from striking because their work is essential to the public, Lougheed took the unprecedented step of stripping the right to strike from all provincial public sector workers, including janitors, clerks and other workers who clearly don't provide essential services.
Lougheed understood his law was heavy-handed, so, as a compromise, he promised that contract disputes would be referred to an impartial, third-party arbitrator if negotiations toward an agreement broke down.
With Bill 46, Redford has shattered the spirit of the deal made by her predecessor. The new law doesn't formally abolish the arbitration system; it simply says the government will use legislation to impose agreements when it doesn't feel like working with an arbitrator.
In taking these actions, the Redford government is almost certainly breaking Canadian law.
Both the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the United Nation's charter on labour rights signed by the Canadian government say that Canadian workers have the right to collective bargaining.
Bill 46 makes a mockery of those commitments. In essence, what the Redford government is saying is that public sector workers should pay for the costs of recovering from the floods with a wage freeze and reduced benefits — at the same time that the Alberta economy is growing at a healthy pace and wages in the private sector are increasing by an average of three to four per cent a year.
That's not “shared sacrifice.” That's unfair, plain and simple.
Bill 45 adds insult to injury.
Under Bill 45, unions will face fines of $1 million a day for engaging in an illegal strike – and remember, all strikes in the provincial public sector are illegal, even if they involve workers who don't provide an essential service.
The fines are bigger, but they're not new. What is new is that, under Bill 45, Albertans can now be fined thousands of dollars for talking about strikes. These fines for uttering so-called “strike threats” will be applied not only to union leaders, but also to individual workers — and members of the broader public.
There have only been four or five illegal strikes in Alberta over the past two decades, so it's hard to see a need for this kind of legislation.
So what should Albertans do in response to these irresponsible pieces of legislation?
First, they should protest. In a democracy, citizens need to fight back whenever democratic rights, like the right to free speech, are attacked.
Second, Albertans need to reassess Alison Redford. Based on her actions, is she really the “progressive” conservative that she purported to be in the last election?
Finally, Albertans need to rally to the defence of our much-maligned public sector workers.
These are our relatives, friends and neighbours who work hard every day to provide services that strengthen our communities and keep our economy moving forward.
In a province as wealthy as ours, certainly we can find a way to treat the heroes of the flood with the respect they deserve.
Gil McGowan is the president of the Alberta Federation of Labour
