EDMONTON – Bargaining committee members from each of the nine Alberta Union of Provincial Employees locals that represent more than 21,000 direct employees of the provincial government were meeting in Edmonton today to begin preparations for what is expected to be a challenging round of negotiations with the province.
Delegates to the conference will set out the bargaining priorities of the members of each local for the nine-member General Service Bargaining Committee (GSBC), which will conduct the upcoming negotiations for a new agreement for the direct employees of the Alberta government.
With Alberta still suffering the effects of a worldwide recession and the provincial government saying it is determined to cut costs, AUPE is very concerned about the rising workloads faced by direct government employees, said AUPE President Guy Smith.
"We are seeing more cases of burnout and rising frustration among the government employees who provide so many essential public services to the people of Alberta," Smith said.
"We hope that this round of bargaining will provide us with an opportunity to address many of those concerns and to fix contract language in many parts of our collective agreement with the government of Alberta," he said.
After the conclusion of the bargaining conference, the GSBC will meet several times to determine the specifics of general proposals accepted by members of the locals' bargaining committees, said AUPE Staff Negotiator Jim Petrie, who will advise the GSBC throughout the negotiations.
Petrie noted that despite significant population and economic growth in Alberta, there has been virtually no increase in the number of government employees for well over a decade.
AUPE's Master Agreement and nine Subsidiary Agreements with the provincial government expire on Aug. 31, 2010.
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