Unions develop new plan to spread their message after health care strike deemed illegal

CALGARY -- Hospital workers across Alberta returned to work Tuesday, encouraged by their union to obey orders from the Alberta Labour Relations Board which deemed their Monday strike illegal, but not before hatching a new plan to spread their message.

As a result of last night's decision by the ALRB declaring the wildcat strike illegal, "AUPE is notifying all its members of the obligation to obey the ALRB order by returning to scheduled work." The solidarity picket planned for today has been cancelled. https://t.co/jyTkpzevv2

— NASA (@UnionNASA) October 27, 2020

Five Alberta unions plan to launch a “Stand up to Kenney” campaign days after more than 1,000 Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) members walked off the job to oppose the government's plan to contract out up to around 11, 000 healthcare jobs including laundry and lab positions.

Though the strike lasted only one day, one Alberta political expert said the protestors' message was effective.

“Call attention to how important they are to the functioning of the health care system,” said Mount Royal University political science professor Lori Williams.

“And focusing the attention on those frontline workers that the UCP promised not to cut in the last election," she added.

The Alberta Federation of Labour will hold a news conference in Edmonton Wednesday morning at 10:30 a.m. along with United Nurses of Alberta (UNA), Health Sciences Association of Alberta (HSAA), Canadian Union of Public Employees Alberta (CUPE Alberta) and U of A Non-Academic Staff Association (NASA).

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  Around 100 healthcare workers from Chinook Hospital in Lethbridge joined in a province-wide wildcat strike Monday against the provincial government's plan to eliminate up to 11,000 jobs during a pandemic. Tuesday, workers across the province returned to work, with plans to spread their message in a different way.