Labour News Archive
2010 [ January to March ]
Provincial government employees’ bargaining representatives meet in Edmonton (Mar-10)
RBC Canadian Consumer Outlook - The report finds that job anxiety in Alberta has fallen significantly to 28 per cent from 36 per cent, although it remains among the highest levels in the country. Nationally, one-in-five Canadians (21 per cent) say that a member of their household is worried about losing their job or being laid off. With the exception of British Columbia, where job anxiety is unchanged, job anxiety is down across the country. (Jan-04-10)
2009 Convention Report - posted Dec-09 (pdf)
2009 Convention Report - Does AUPE still need a Women's Committee? (pdf)
Essays posted - Applicants for the Local 002 scholarships submitted essays on the topic of AUPE's 2009 Member Image Advertising Campaign. (Oct-29-09)
What's happened to the full-time jobs? asks AFL in wake of latest job figures - It's true that according to the Statistics Canada survey 13,000 jobs were created in Alberta in November. But 12,600 of those jobs were part-time. (Dec-04-09)
Alberta labour federation says the province gets a raw deal on E-I benefits - The Alberta Federation of Labour has released an analysis that supports its push to shorten waiting times for federal Employment Insurance benefits in Alberta. The labour group says Albertans are being short-changed because they have to work more hours to qualify for benefits compared to workers in other provinces. "The ranks of the unemployed in Alberta swell each month as layoffs continue," AFL President Gil McGowan said Sunday. "But the safety net we pay into is failing to stop their fall."
Jim Macdonald, CP (Sep-06-09)
Union asks Alberta to include same-sex marriages in spouse definition - Alberta's largest public service union has officially asked the province to change how it defines a spouse in its benefits package for government employees. According to the "My Choice" package distributed to workers in spring 2008, a "spouse" is someone of the opposite sex. People in same-sex marriages are called "benefit partners," even though same-sex marriages have been legal in Alberta since July 2005.
CBC News (Apr-23-09)
Beyond Your Control and Causing You Stress: Impact of Work Organization on Job Stress - Work stress is a challenge for and a threat to the health of both workers and organizations. As the nature of work and work environments change, so do the kinds of stress problems that employees face. Read the article.
Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (Apr-09)
Alberta’s jobless rate highest since 2002 - Alberta gained 5,700 jobs in April but its unemployment rate still inched up to six per cent, according to figures released Friday by Statistics Canada. Bill Mah, Edmonton Journal (May-8-09)
Threat of '90s-style cuts sparks outrage - The mere mention of budget slashing similar to the 1990s--when Klein chopped civil servants and imposed double-digit budget cuts to help pay a $23-billion debt--brought a chorus of opposition. Stelmach's words sent a chill through members of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees. "The economic situation calls for us to be stimulating the economy and spending money, not making people afraid to spend," said union spokesman David Climenhaga.
Archie Mclean and Jamie Komarnicki, Calgary Herald with Files From The Edmonton Journal - Saturday (Jan-17-09)
Government Bonus Plan is Obsence - At a time when tens of thousands of severely normal Albertans are losing their jobs and the province is expected to run a budget deficit next year, it's unconscionable that thousands of key civil servants will this year receive bonuses of up to 30% of their salaries. That bonus scheme in three years alone has paid out more than $110 million to civil servants ranging from deputy ministers to executive assistants. Kerry Diotte, Edmonton Sun (Mar-19-09) Spending cuts, layoffs the wrong way to respond to financial crisis: AUPE President - Albertans need to tell Premier Ed Stelmach and his government that big spending cuts and massive job losses are a formula for economic disaster and exactly the wrong way to respond to a worldwide financial crisis, says the president of Alberta’s largest union. Parliamentary committee call for citizenship for temporary foreign workers - Unions in B.C. and Alberta are demanding changes be made to the temporary foreign worker (TFW) program to allow for permanent residency. However, this pathway to citizenship has already been rejected by the federal government, despite a report recommending otherwise.
Richard Gilbert, Staff Writer, Daily Commercial News and Construction Record (Jun-2-09)
The Canadian Labour Market at a Glance: Online publication - Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses (Nov-08)
Bullied Right Out the Door - Victims, not perpetrators, the first to go in recessionary cutbacks, expert says - By Katherine Dedyna, Tmes Colonist, Victoria, British Columbia (Nov-08)
Federal employees earn more than private workers - Federal government workers earn 17.3 per cent more on average than people in the private sector who are in similar positions, a Canadian survey showed Tuesday. The gap widens even further when perks like shorter work weeks are included, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business study said. When pensions and other benefits are added to calculations, the difference widens to 41.7 per cent between the federal public sector and the private sector. Tavia Grant, Globe and Mail Update (Dec-08) Wage Watch: A Comparison of Public-sector and Private-sector Wages – (Dec-08)
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