FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 5, 1998
Stop playing games at the bargaining table!
EDMONTON – A settlement is possible in the Aspen health care dispute – but only if negotiators for the employer stop playing games at the bargaining table. That was the message delivered earlier today by Audrey Cormack, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour. "Over the past few weeks, workers at the Mayerthorpe, Boyle and Swan Hills healthcare centres have made a good faith effort to reach a settlement," says Cormack. "But negotiators for the employer have derailed the process by refusing to work towards a compromise." The latest example of employer inflexibility came early this morning when a representative from the Provincial Health Authority of Alberta (PHAA) – the body that has been negotiating on behalf of the Aspen Health Authority – served the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) with a court order. "The union came to the table with concrete proposals to break the impasse and the employer came with legal threats," says Cormack. "To me, this suggests that the employers is not making a sincere effort to reach a settlement." Cormack says workers at the three rural health centres are merely asking for a contract similar to the ones already signed by AUPE members at other health facilities around the province. The workers have also made it clear that they’re willing to compromise, she added. "The health care workers involved in this dispute have backed-off from some of their original proposals on wages and vacations. They’ve shown a willingness to be flexible. The employer, on the other hand, seems intent on using the courts to force acceptance of an inferior deal." In addition to criticizing the PHAA and the Aspen Health Authority, Cormack says the provincial government also has to take some responsibility for the current labour dispute. If Alberta didn’t have labour laws that prohibit strikes by public sector workers, a deal would probably already have been reached, she said. "Because of our labour laws, the employer has expended valuable time and resources going after the union for supposedly counseling workers to go on an illegal strike. If strikes weren’t illegal, they could focus on negotiating rather than dragging things through the courts." In the short term, Cormack says what’s needed is a greater willingness to compromise and negotiate on the part of the PHAA. In the long term, she says what’s needed are less restrictive labour laws. "This is a dispute that can be settled. The will is there on the workers side. All that we need is for the employer to come back to the table with a less confrontational attitude."
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