Alberta unions take to downtown Calgary for solidarity demonstration | 24CA News
Wintry climate didn’t put a chill on a demonstration calling for higher wages and dealing situations for staff of all stripes in downtown Calgary.
Chants of “workers united will never be defeated” rang out as a number of unions marched from Calgary City Hall to the Harry Hays Building noon Friday.
The demonstration comes at a time when members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) are taking part in job motion throughout the nation. And on this province, staff in Fort McMurray-area camps are dealing with job loss, over $7-per-hour wage cuts and the elimination of assured hours.
“Both Civeo and Imperial Oil are being extremely profitable at the moment. They came to our membership in November of last year when they had a year left on their contract and said, ‘The cost of business up here has changed and you guys need to take these rollbacks or we’re going to replace you,’” Chris O’Halloran, government director of UFCW Local 401 mentioned.
UFCW represents workers at some oilsands camps.
O’Halloran mentioned 90 per cent of their members voted towards the supply and final week, Civeo delivered termination notices for greater than 300 staff.
“We’ve had people who have been there for 16 years in a remote camp setting, in a hotel, providing cooking, cleaning services for the people that have built the oil and gas sector for Imperial Oil,” he mentioned.
“And now Imperial Oil just signed a new 12-year contract and is trying to force down wages.”
Global News reached out to Civeo for remark.
The union representatives on the “Workers demand better” rally mentioned with Alberta’s financial system performing higher than lately, corporations posting document income, a decent labour market permitting staff to readily discover jobs and document inflation, staff shouldn’t decrease their expectations.
“There’s no reason for them to expect less. There’s no reason for them to put up with disrespect in the working workplace. So our message is that workers demand better,” Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan mentioned Friday.
“What we’re saying as a labour movement representing more than 175,000 working Albertans in this province is that we’re done putting up with it. Our employers and both the private sector and the public sector, they can afford to do better.”
The march to the Harry Hays Building was to point out solidarity with the PSAC picket line.
Rory Gill of the Canadian Union of Public Employees mentioned the PSAC labour motion and up to date Ontario lecturers strike present the labour motion in Canada has been “revitalized in a way I haven’t seen in my lifetime.”
“There’s a moment in Canada right now, not just in Alberta, where workers are saying, ‘We want better. We want better schools. We want better governance. We want better social services,’” Gill mentioned.
“It’s not just at the bargaining table. It’s right across society. And we’re going to change this.”
Members of the Health Services Association of Alberta (HSAA) took half within the demonstration, the day after talks with Dynalife have been mentioned to have damaged down.
“We’ve taken our zeroes (in wage increases). We’ve done the work to get this province through a pandemic,” HSAA president Mike Parker mentioned Thursday. “It’s time to treat our workers with respect and treat them better.”
HSAA and Dynalife have begun important service settlement discussions, a step in the direction of formal mediation. Dynalife mentioned it’s dedicated to reaching a collective settlement that’s “in the best interest of our staff and Albertans.”
Workers are additionally searching for enhancements to working situations, the unions mentioned.
Part of the PSAC dispute is round how a lot of the work federal staff can do from house relatively than needing to be within the workplace. PSAC mentioned the “vast majority” of the providers they supply to Canadians may be finished on a pc and with an web connection. Their members would like to do this from house for a wide range of causes.
“That work life balance piece is a massive piece in the current labour market. Our employees are showing that they need that work-life balance, they’re demanding that work life balance,” Alex Creamer, chair of the PSAC Calgary-area council mentioned.
“And in order for the public service to stay competitive and to be able to maintain our level of standard of employment and our level of service to Canadians, we need to attract good candidates.”
Read extra:
PSAC strike might be a ‘trendsetter’ for wages this 12 months, specialists say. Here’s why
Creamer mentioned the demand to return to the workplace has additionally impacted morale.
Charles Smith, an affiliate professor of political research on the University of Saskatchewan mentioned the labour motion is having a second nationwide.
“We’re kind of in this moment where I think, historically, we haven’t seen sort of high inflation and crises affecting people’s pocketbooks in the way they are right now,” Smith instructed Global News, saying the “recipe” is there for heightened union exercise.
“I wouldn’t suspect that we’re going to see the end of this anytime soon.”
“The one sort of light at the end of the tunnel might be as inflation keeps falling, wage demands will be different over time. There is a bit of a correlation historically between periods of high inflation and higher periods of labour unrest.”
McGowan mentioned there’s an financial argument for having unions negotiate improved wages for his or her members.
“Canadians have to understand that if workers get a better deal at the bargaining table in the public and private sector, that’s good for everyone, because when a union wins a good wage settlement for their members, that pulls up wages for everyone else, both in the public and private sector,” the AFL president mentioned.
“And that’s even good for the economy, because money in workers’ pockets is money that’s going to be spent in the economy.”
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