Prentice unveils public sector bargaining plan; unions wary

As Alberta Premier Jim Prentice continues to call for reigning in public sector salaries while keeping them fair, some provincial unions are expressing disappointment following his latest announcement.

Speaking in Edmonton, Prentice introduced the launch of a government working group that will develop what is hoped to be a more disciplined, collaborative and long-term approach to bargaining, which will be headed by Alberta Justice and Solicitor General Deputy Minister Tim Grant.

Grant will then report to the premier in four months, after also looking at policies in other provinces, notably in British Columbia.

Prentice said the government has to be at the centre of a better negotiating plan.

“It hasn’t worked well in the past,” he said. “There’s been not enough coordination, there’s been not enough discipline at the table in terms of where we’ve ended up.”

The premier made similar remarks in Calgary last week, reiterating that public sector employees are poised to make $2.6 billion over the next three years alone.

But Guy Smith, president of the Alberta Union of Public Employees, disputes that figure.

“We’ve done our math, it just doesn’t add up,” Smith said. “We’ve been asking for more details on that, we want to see what their breakdown is because we know what’s contained in the collective agreements that our members have and it doesn’t even come close to that.”

As for the bargaining process, Smith said the union is always willing to negotiate respectfully and he hopes the government will take the same approach.

But he also said he’s concerned because the only times they’ve heard anything that impacts members has been through public statements to the media.

“There’s been no face-to-face, there’s been none of that respectful discussion that you’d expect at that level, it’s all been through the media and us having to respond and that’s not the way you run labour relations quite honestly,” Smith said. “If there’s more engagement in the future, then that’s good, but up to this point, it hasn’t been very encouraging.”

Alberta Federation of Labour President Gil McGowan went a step further saying his confidence in Prentice to negotiate in a trustworthy way has been waning, since the productive and initial meetings they had when he first became premier.

“Every speech that he delivers now, I become more and more disappointed,” McGowan said, adding the real problem has been fiscal policies that depend too much on oil royalties, while also giving tax breaks and benefits to wealthy corporations. “The government is blaming public sector workers for a problem that they didn’t create, so what it looks like is that we’re headed for tough times ahead.”

The Tories also discussed the Supreme Court of Canada’s recent decision affirming the right to strike and Prentice, as well as Minister of Jobs, Skills, Training and Labour Ric McIver, said they will review current policies including a ban on public-sector walkouts.

“The legislation that we have now for labour hasn’t been revamped in decades, so it is time to look at it,” McIver said. “There’s a lot of our employees that right now have the right to strike and those that don’t, it’s been so long since we looked at it, we think this is a good time to sit down in a respectful way with our employees and those that represent them and make sure we get it right.”

McIver was also asked if it’s possible that more unions would have the right to strike in the future.

“It’s possible and what is important is that we will talk with our employees and their chosen representatives in a respectful way,” he said.