Buried deep in the back of the Mazankowski Report is a menacing plan for the transition to private health care in Alberta. Put simply, the report includes a process to rip up collective agreements in the health care sector, take away protections under the Labour Code and align the policies of regional health boards in order to pave the way to privatization.

It’s all right there on page 71 of the report. Mazankowski recommends the appointment of a Transition Commissioner who would be given the power to identify and address barriers to implementation including "legislation and regulations, labour codes and professional legislation, union agreements and conflicting policies."

By adopting the Mazankowski report in its entirety, the Klein government has thrown down the gauntlet to the labour movement. Because behind the transition plan is the not so veiled threat that freely negotiated collective bargaining rights are meaningless when they conflict with this government’s agenda.

The government has been aggressive in its efforts to massage public opinion on the costs and sustainability of public health care. The wages and benefits of health care workers have been under attack for years. With the same motive, the Mazankowski Report is no more than a plan to shift health care costs to individuals and hand delivery to the private sector. And make no mistake it is also a plan about lowering wages.

The government knows there is much corporate money to be made by privatizing health care. But, standing in the way of privatization and/or contracting-out are successor rights and job security provisions. Standing in the way of corporate profits are the wages, benefits and hours of work of the people who deliver health care services.

If we need any further evidence of what lies ahead for health care workers, we need only look at what is happening next door in British Columbia. There, the Campbell government has passed legislation that prohibits unions from negotiating lay-off provisions, service issues, severance and contracting-out from this point forward.

At the same time, the Alberta government is attacking public health care it is attacking the core values of organized labour. Nothing less than the foundation of collective bargaining, the legal significance of collective agreements, is at stake. We have a big fight ahead.

And, as is the case in BC, it will take building strong community coalitions and the collective power of the entire labour movement to win. But win we can. After all a deal is a deal.