PrintUNA members and other unions rally against Bill 9 at four worksites in Edmonton area
Members of United Nurses of Alberta, the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees, the Health Sciences Association of Alberta, and the Canadian Union of Public Employees took part in lunch-hour information pickets protesting the Alberta Government’s interference in collective bargaining at four locations in the Edmonton area on Friday, July 19.
Pickets walked streets in by the Royal Alexandra Hospital, Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital, and Edmonton General Continuing Care Centre in Edmonton, and at the Westview Health Centre in Stony Plain, taking the government to task for Bill 9, the Public Sector Wage Arbitration Deferral Act.
The Act is intended to delay collective bargaining and arbitration for tens of thousands of Alberta public employees, including most of UNA’s more than 30,000 members, until the end of October. It was passed by the Legislature on June 19 and was given Royal Assent, becoming law, on June 28.
UNA filed a statement of claim with the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta on July 3 seeking a declaration the Act is of no force or effect because it is violation of the freedom of association provision of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which the courts have ruled guarantees the right of Canadian workers to bargain collectively.
