By Jim Selby, AFL staff

[Calgary] Over one hundred delegates participated in the first Alberta Federation of Labour Membership Forum on May 12 and 13, 2000.

The Forum, which is mandated by Convention to be held in those years where no convention is scheduled, is intended to accomplish several objectives. It is supposed to provide educational and mobilizing opportunities to the membership, to stimulate debate, and to provide a forum for frank, informal exchanges of views between the executive and union activists.

"This first biennial membership forum was an unqualified success," said Alberta Federation of Labour President, Audrey Cormack. The Forum was organized around the theme, Labour and the Law, and featured several keynote speakers, expert workshops on current labour law issues, and a panel and plenary on the arbitration process.

University of Calgary Industrial Relations Professor Alan Ponak opened the conference with a strong presentation on the benefits of the Rand Formula for trade unions. "It is unlikely that labour can convince this government to ban the use of strikebreakers or provide first contract arbitration," said Ponak. "But, it very possible for labour to get the Rand Formula – which I consider to be at least as important to labour as the other two provisions."

Bob Blair, past Chair of the Alberta Labour Relations Board, spoke about union approaches to dealing with the LRB [story below] on Saturday morning.

At an organized lunch, Lyle Kanee of Chivers Greckol and Kanee, spoke about negotiating family friendly collective agreements. He urged labour to deal with the growing conflict between work and family demands on Canadian workers, and offered several thought-provoking solutions.

On Saturday afternoon, delegates attended workshops by legal experts on a wide variety of topics ranging from video surveillance in the workplace (Dave Mercer) to strike-related misconduct (Bill Johnson). "The workshop I attended was really valuable," said CEP member Don MacNeil. "I just wish I could have attended them all."

The panel on the problems inherent in the arbitration process was very well-received – with labour activists dissecting the current process. Linda Huebscher (CUPE) pointed out that the more anti-union results in Alberta can be attributed to a more individualistic political culture. Tom Fuller (AUPE) strongly urged unions to avoid the interest arbitration process as inherently biased against union settlements. Martyn Piper (UBCJA) said that it was time unions found other faster and more worker accessible ways to settle workplace problems.

Action plans endorsed
In the morning plenary, the membership enthusiastically endorsed the Federation’s threefold action plan for the next twelve months, as outlined by President Audrey Cormack.

"First," said Cormack, "we propose that the Alberta Federation of Labour commit itself to organizing a second, much larger peoples’ summit. Our second initiative would be a broadly circulated booklet on the Alberta experience. Like our well-received Crumbs from the Table and Missing out on the Boom, this booklet would be distributed to trade unionists and the public across the province."

"Thirdly, we will prepare a concise and complete analysis of why workers need unions and labour laws that protect unions. In that publication, we will also point out what’s wrong with the Alberta Labour Code from a worker’s point of view, and propose amendments to correct the flaws in the current code. Then we will meet with bargaining units across the province to distribute the booklet and to make sure that they participate in the expected government review of labour laws. Finally, we will distribute the booklet to the media, to sympathetic unionized employers, and to unorganized workers to mobilize as much support for labour’s position as possible."

Cormack concluded by reiterating the AFL’s determination to take our fight into the next provincial election. "There is a mood of political change in Alberta," she said, "and labour must seize the chance to act."