Province targets union’s dues

Fallout from illegal strike

The province stepped up its financial attack Wednesday on the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees, saying it will take separate actions to temporarily stop collecting union dues and also seek restitution for an illegal strike.

Speaking publicly for the first time since Edmonton Remand Centre guards walked off job last Friday, Premier Alison Redford reiterated Wednesday the province will take legal action to recover about $1.3 million for each day of the union’s strike.

“We’ve been calculating costs based on having to contract police officers and RCMP and other service providers, above and beyond our operating budget,” Redford said.

Provincial officials have also taken steps to stop collecting union dues from AUPE members for up to six months, a legal remedy available under Alberta law.

The union has also paid $350,000 to the courts in separate contempt fines.

The illegal strike began last Friday and was called off late Tuesday.

If Redford’s estimate is correct, the province could seek damages of at least $5.2 million.

Justice Minister Jonathan Denis will oversee the process, which involves filing a grievance with the AUPE and taking the matter through arbitration.

Denis said there is a “litany of precedent” in Alberta for such compensation.

He also said Public Service Commissioner Dwight Dibben served notice April 27 that the province intends to temporarily stop deducting AUPE dues.

In the notice, Dibben said the province “intends to suspend the deduction and remittance of union dues, assessments or other fees owing to the union by employees ... for a period of six months commencing April 28, 2013.”

Tannis Brown, executive director of the Alberta Labour Relations Board, said the government cannot take action until the board issues a decision because the union is disputing the notice.

The board has the power to decide which dues, if any, the province can stop collecting, and for how long.

Edmonton Remand Centre guards were told Wednesday morning they aren’t protected under an amnesty deal that helped settle the walkout, AUPE president Guy Smith said late Wednesday.

“I had an agreement with (deputy premier Thomas) Lukaszuk that no individual member would suffer retribution, and then we’ve got the deputy solicitor general going into the Edmonton Remand Centre and threatening retribution,” Smith said.

Deputy solicitor general Tim Grant couldn’t be reached for comment, but Solicitor General Jonathan Denis insisted the government would not discipline individual members.

“I’m not interested in pursuing any remedy against the individual union members, and quite frankly I thank them for their service every day,” Denis said.

Told of Denis’s comments, Smith reiterated that the government needs to be clear to defuse a volatile situation.

“They need to come out in writing and say there will be no retribution against any individual member of the union.”

At an afternoon news conference, Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan blasted the effort to stop collecting union dues.

“This decision ... is clearly a punitive measure and could be illegal,” said McGowan, flanked by representatives from the United Nurses of Alberta, the Health Sciences Association of Alberta and the United Food and Commercial Workers.

The Public Service Employee Relations Act allows for suspension of dues only for union locals, McGowan said, not the whole organization.

Given that the government wasn’t paying for striking workers, McGowan said Redford’s cost estimates are “not credible.”

Striking correctional officers, sheriffs and court clerks began returning to work Wednesday morning after walking out earlier in the week to support guards at the remand centre, who went on strike after two members were suspended.

Union members said they have safety concerns about the $580-million facility. The province said the facility was inspected and deemed safe.