Leader staff

Are Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) going to strike? Or maybe be locked out by their employer?

That’s what people are wondering, after union members overwhelmingly voted in favour of a strike if negotiations with the Government of Alberta don’t work out.

The way Treasury Board President and Minister of Finance Nate Horner was talking last week, things don’t look too promising. He blamed union leaders for the impasse, “despite government negotiators indicating there was room to move.”

Horner said the government had offered 12 per cent wage increases over four years, which he said is consistent with what other public sector bargaining groups have settled for. The AUPE is demanding 29 per cent over four years, Horner said in the release, which he characterized as “unreasonable and unrealistic.”

That’s interesting, says AUPE President Guy Smith, because what the AUPE is actually asking for is 24 per cent over four years, so he doesn’t know where the minister is getting his numbers.

Smith says the United Nurses of Alberta recently settled for “just over 20 per cent over four years,” and, “we’re not that far from that.”

The two sides are quite far apart, Smith says, but there is room to move, and he’s optimistic a deal can be done. However, both sides have to be willing to move. A strike (or a lockout) is the last thing anyone wants, Smith says, but the members have indicated they are willing to go that far.

With the gloves now off, so to speak, “we’re down to hard bargaining,” Smith says. He expected that would be happening June 2 and 3, at scheduled meetings between the parties – with a mediator.

“Both parties need to make some movement, including us,” he says.

The negotiations affect 152 provincial employees in Slave Lake, in various provincial government agencies. If there is a strike or lockout, some services that are deemed essential would continue. Contingency planning is already underway, says the government news release.