AUPE surprised by Prentice comments on rollbacks; won’t open up collective agreement

If talks are underway between the province and the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees, no one has told union president Guy Smith.

He said he was surprised to hear of the premier’s comments about rollbacks for public sector workers.

“The only discussions we’ve had has been through the media,” he said, adding he’s willing to engage with the premier, but there’s conditions. “We’re not willing to open up our collective agreement that took so much struggle and so much hard work to get last spring.”

“The members on the front lines, they’re already sharing the burden by the fact that their numbers haven’t increased while the population of Alberta has been booming, so that’s more stress on the front line, so already they feel overburdened,’ he said.

Smith added the perception that cutting back on public sector wages is going to solve the fiscal situation is false.

“Our members wages make up only three per cent of the entire provincial budget, so there’s not enough there,” Smith said, adding the province should look at new revenue streams and ending the flat tax. “Bring corporate tax levels at least to where they were at 10 years ago, so that corporations, especially the oil companies who have benefited from extraction of resources start paying their fair share.”

The union said he understands the premier has to answer media questions, but hearing the comments initially through the press is not the way he wants the dialogue to start.

 

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