Public employees including UNA members to rally against Bill 9 in Lethbridge, Olds

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 are expected to take part in a lunch-hour information picket protesting the Alberta Government’s interference in collective bargaining at the Lethbridge Provincial Building  from noon to 1 p.m. on Wednesday, July 24.

The Lethbridge Provincial Building is located at 200 – 5th Ave. South in Lethbridge.

Another info picket is scheduled to take place at the Olds Hospital and Care Centre, 3901 – 57th Ave. in Olds, from 11 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on Friday, July 26.

Bill 9, the Public Sector Wage Arbitration Deferral 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.