Coping with displacement
Alberta unions calling for assistance for workers affected by phase-out of coal
The province and employers should provide job training, relocation assistance, transitional allowances and other help for workers left unemployed when coal-fired power plants are closed, a report released Friday says.
The document, produced by the Alberta Federation of Labour and the union-based Coal Transition Coalition, calls for the government to create an Alberta Economic Adjustment Agency to handle such areas as planning and employment programs.
“When addressing a societal issue that will impose costs, it is unfair to download those costs on a single segment of society or individuals, in this case, workers within the coal-fired electricity sector,” the report says.
“After all, these workers are not responsible for the emissions and air quality problems associated with their workplaces.”
The federal and provincial governments want to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 by phasing out coal-fired electricity generation, which the report says will affect more than 3,000 workers at six Alberta power plants and associated coal mines.
Here are some of the report highlights:
Displaced staff should be offered similar jobs in the same plant or at other facilities run by the same company — otherwise, they should receive preferential hiring for positions elsewhere in the sector, or a pathway to work in such growing fields as solar and wind power.
Employers should offer training and apprenticeships to people who will be displaced, while the province should give them education and career counselling — the workers should receive free tuition, financial support and health benefits while taking these courses.
People should be paid up to three years of employment insurance top-ups and extensions until they find new jobs — older employees taking early retirement should get up to a few years of financial support and benefits until their pensions start.
The province should help affected communities by directing investments it plans to make in such areas as renewable energy and energy efficiency toward them.
The Alberta Economic Adjustment Agency should manage a trust fund to pay for the programs, which would be built up by 2030 with contributions of $10 million to $20 million a year.