Gil McGowan AFL statement on Bill 2
Alberta unions are warning Premier Danielle Smith that using the notwithstanding clause to end the provincewide teachers strike would provoke what they describe as an unprecedented response from the labour movement.
The Alberta Federation of Labour says it represents more than 350,000 workers through its affiliated unions and the Common Front coalition. The groups held an emergency meeting Friday as the United Conservative government prepares back to work legislation that could be introduced Monday.
In a letter endorsed by all member unions and sent to Smith, union leaders urged the premier to rule out the use of the clause in any bill aimed at ending the teachers strike that began Oct. 6.
The clause allows a government to override certain Charter rights for up to five years. It has never been used in Canada to legislate an end to a labour dispute.
The letter calls such a move unprecedented in the history of Canadian labour relations and says it would escalate the confrontation from teachers and the province to the entire Canadian labour movement. It warns that invoking the clause would make a mockery of the constitutionally protected right to strike and erode worker bargaining power, wages and living standards.
It also cautions that if governments start using the clause to deal with workers and unions, others will see it as a precedent. The letter says if the government takes that approach, unions will have no choice but to mobilize an unprecedented response. It says there are many avenues the government could pursue to negotiate with public sector unions that do not involve the clause and urges Smith to choose them.
The Alberta government has not said whether Bill 2, expected to be called the Back to School Act, will include the notwithstanding clause. If passed, the bill would force teachers back into classrooms as early as next week.
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