Article content

The next 12 months will have plenty of battles for Fort McMurray’s labour movement after a year of hard-fought victories and transformations, said Omer Hussein of the Wood Buffalo and District Labour Council.

Article content

The unions representing Catholic and public school educational assistants, secretaries, custodians, IT workers and other support staff could be voting this week on a strike. Other unions in Fort McMurray are at impasses with their employers, said Hussein. Meanwhile, living costs keep rising while workers say their wages have stagnated.

“A lot of workers are recognizing that ultimately, as a worker, all you have is your ability to withdraw your labour if you don’t feel like you’ve been fairly compensated, and if you feel like you can’t live a life that gives you meaning and dignity,” said Hussein in an interview ahead of the Labour Day long weekend.

“If you’re going to be an educational assistant and you’re not able to make enough money to live in Fort McMurray, why would you live here? If you’re a nurse and you’re not making enough money to live in the community, why would you stay here?”

Article content

Hussein says Fort McMurray’s labour movement scored a massive victory this year against the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo (RMWB). Plans to cut 459 unionized jobs were cancelled in June after CAO Henry Hunter announced in February the RMWB would outsource, merge and restructure hundreds of positions.

Unions and labour groups in the Fort McMurray Wood Buffalo region loudly protested the layoffs with chants, sirens, horns and music outside a March 12 council meeting. Council continued with their meeting, although protesters were so loud the walls sometimes shook. CUPE members held signs protesting the layoffs at the meeting, and did so at meetings for weeks afterwards.

The RMWB agreed to cancel 120-day layoff notices before the Easter long weekend while negotiations continued. While no unionized staff would be part of layoffs, some vacant positions were cut through attrition. Other jobs were consolidated.

Article content

“The last 12 months have been a combination of coming together, building solidarity and really reactivating the labour movement in Fort McMurray. The next 12 months is going to be a pretty tumultuous time,” said Hussein.

Fort McMurray’s labour movement has raised their concerns with political leaders at all levels of government. At a July meeting with 13 senators and their staff, local union leaders said they fear current economic trends will leave their workplaces understaffed and filled with transient workers as families leave Fort McMurray.

“This is a place that is just booming with people looking for opportunity and it seems like that opportunity is slipping away,” said Ty Brandt of IUOE Local 955 at the meeting.

Article content

“It’s not even slow anymore, it’s eroding. The opportunities just aren’t there like they were.”

‘Unprecedented’ number of contracts expiring: McGowan

Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour, said in an interview that concerns about stagnant wages as life gets more expensive are commonly mentioned by workers across Alberta

Roughly 250,000 public sector workers, as well as thousands of unionized private sector workers, will soon start holding bargaining talks with their employers or have already begun talks.

“This is a perfect storm with wages declining and costs increasing. It’s no surprise so many working Albertans are concerned about what the future holds, especially in the context of their standard of living,” said McGowan in an interview.

Article content

“The next 12 months will be pivotal for Alberta’s unions and for Alberta’s workers. So many of our unions are either back at the bargaining table right now or will soon be back at the bargaining table. In fact, I would call the number of contracts that are expiring as unprecedented.”

In a Monday statement, Alberta’s Jobs, Economy and Trade Minister Matt Jones called Alberta’s workforce “the backbone of the economic engine of Canada.”

“Our government is working to promote safe, fair and healthy workplaces that support job creation, investment attraction and our continued economic leadership,” he said.

Get the news and events of Fort McMurray Wood Buffalo in your inbox every Friday morning by signing up for our newsletter.

[email protected]

Article content