Rory Gill: “Never stop fighting, stick together, and win”

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CUPE Alberta President Rory Gill opened his report to the CUPE Alberta Convention by recognizing the incredible challenge that the last year has been for all of us, but also the way that CUPE members have stepped up to meet those challenges.

“The more adversity we’ve faced, the stronger we’ve become, together and it’s together that we will keep getting stronger and overcome the challenges of these times, no matter how daunting and tough they may be.”

Gill said that the actions of the provincial government and UCP MLAs have also made the year even harder – refusing to reduce class sizes, ignoring advice from health officials, and topping it all off by putting Albertans at risk for the sake of a few days on the beach.

“I have said it many times and will keep saying it until the day the UCP is sent packing by the people of Alberta; the only thing Jason Kenney is good at is making things worse!”

Gill also saluted all of the front-line workers in the province putting themselves at risk every day, thanking them for their service and dedication.

“In CUPE when we say we honour front line workers, we mean it and we follow through by fighting for decent pay, safe working conditions, good benefits and fair and secure retirement.”

Gill explained that Kenney’s latest budget not only cuts education, health care, and many other essential services, but cuts them to pay for corporate tax cuts, bad investments, and poor government.

“The budget is backwards, broken and making life harder for most Albertans.”

Gill emphasized that CUPE Alberta isn’t standing still, but is fighting back with an ambitious campaign of education and mobilization, which has expanded CUPE’s reach and made a difference.

“We have to keep educating Albertans about the damage Jason Kenney is doing to our province, and we have to activate people to work hard to throw this dangerous, radical government out.”

Gill closed by pointing out that Kenney’s union-busting Bill 32 is also backfiring and will never shut CUPE up.

“Jason Kenney’s going to regret this bill as we speak with every single CUPE member in Alberta about the damage it’s doing.”

 

WestJet & CUPE reach tentative agreement

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If ratified, agreement will cover over 3,100 cabin crew 

CALGARY – CUPE and WestJet have reached a tentative first collective agreement for mainline cabin crew. CUPE Local 4070 represents over 3,100 cabin crew members at the airline.

CUPE has represented cabin crew at WestJet since July 2018. The parties have been engaged in collective bargaining towards a first union contract since April 2019. 

CUPE Local 4070 President Chris Rauenbusch called this “an unprecedented achievement at the height of trying times for our industry.” Rauenbusch noted that COVID-19 travel restrictions and layoffs made achieving this milestone “a monumental task.” 

“In the past year, over 90% of our members have been grounded due to the pandemic,” said Rauenbusch. “To achieve a constructive tentative agreement in this environment is remarkable.” 

“I am incredibly proud of the work done by both our union and our bargaining committee, particularly in such a challenging context.” commented Rauenbusch. “Though both sides bargained with tenacity, we believe WestJet has demonstrated a clear commitment to building harmonious labour relations moving forward,” concluded Rauenbusch. 

Rauenbusch said CUPE will conduct a ratification vote in March. The union will not release details of the tentative agreement until union members have voted on it. 

“Our membership is proud that we’ve been able to provide a safe travel option to Canadians who travel during this pandemic,” said Rauenbusch. “With this agreement, we are positioned to continue proudly providing professional, safe flights well into the future. The only mystery that remains is whether this government will ensure our industry survives.”

 CUPE also represents cabin crew at WestJet subsidiaries WestJet Encore and Swoop. Rauenbusch hopes the tentative agreement with the ‘mainline’ will lead to similar agreements across the company.

A backward budget from Jason Kenney

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Dear friends,

Today, Jason Kenney’s government tabled a budget for the 2021-22 year.

I’d love tell you that the UCP tabled a budget that will create jobs, revitalize the economy and protects the public services we need.

I’d love to tell you that, but I can’t.

Don’t believe what the Kenney government is saying. This is a budget that cuts services, that has no plan for the economy, and makes working Albertans pay for corporate tax cuts and bad investments.

CUTS TO VALUABLE SERVICES

When you factor in population growth and inflation, today’s budget represents a $4 billion cut to services we count on.

To put this in real terms, it means:

  • $600 million less for health care than Alberta spent in 2018-19. And that’s AFTER including money from the federal government to help with COVID.
  • The UCP have cut education funding by $160 million, even though 20,000 more students will come into the system in September.
  • The UCP cut $600 million from post-secondary education, they cut $750 million from municipalities. Kenney is cutting crime prevention & criminal prosecution. He is cutting funds for the homeless, funds for housing, and funds for wildfire fighting.

And on top of all that, there’s $1.4 billion in further cuts by 2023.

CORPORATE TAX BREAKS – THOSE ARE STILL A GO

Jason Kenney is continuing his $4.7 billion tax cuts for profitable corporations – tax cuts that have yet to produce a single job.

And we now know that Jason Kenney has lost another $900 million on the failed Keystone pipeline (bringing the total lost to $2.4 billion).

The budget has no plan for job creation and no plan for diversification of our economy. We have no plan beyond ‘hoping things get better.’

Kenney isn’t even making a dent in the deficit and debt. I don’t believe this is the time to focus on debt. But for all the pain inflicted by his cuts, Jason Kenney’s deficit is three times higher than the last NDP budget.

BACKWARD BUDGET

CUPE is fighting back. I’m asking you to go to www.backwardsbudget.ca and send a message to the UCP – this budget is a bad plan for Alberta.

Jason Kenney promised Jobs, the economy and pipelines. He promised no cuts to frontline services. He’s broken almost every promise he made.

Nobody voted for this.

Sincerely,

Rory Gill, President
CUPE Alberta

Albertans ready for change: UCP slips behind NDP in approval ratings

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For immediate release
November 26, 2020

CALGARY – If a provincial election were held today, Albertans would send Jason Kenney and the UCP packing and return to the NDP under Rachel Notley.

That was the finding by an Environics Research poll of 1,205 Albertans taken Nov 10-23. The poll was commissioned by the Canadian Union of Public Employees.

The poll found 47% of decided voters would support Rachel Notley and the NDP (up from 33% in the 2019 election) while only 40% would vote for the re-election of Jason Kenney (down from 54% received in 2019). The NDP leads in the Edmonton and Calgary regions.

When asked if they thought Jason Kenney could be relied upon to tell Albertans the truth, only 33% felt they could trust him. By contrast, Rachel Notley is trusted by 50% of Albertans to be honest.

CUPE Alberta President Rory Gill says isn’t surprised Albertans are ready to dump Kenney.

“Jason Kenney has broken almost every promise he made,” said Gill. “He promised jobs, we’ve lost hundreds of thousands of them.  He promised no cuts to front line services – he’s laid off education and health care workers across the province.”

“Kenney has botched and politicized his response to the COVID pandemic.  He’s said he wants to protect the economy, but our case count is growing so fast it’s hurting our economy deeply.”

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Alberta doesn’t like Kenney’s handling of health care and COVID-19: poll

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CALGARY – A new poll of Albertans by Environics Research paints a picture of a population deeply unhappy with Premier Jason Kenney’s handling of the health care system and the COVID-19 pandemic, and supportive of health care workers fighting for their jobs.

The poll, commissioned by the Canadian Union of Public Employees, surveyed 1,205 Albertans online between the dates of November 10-23, 2020.

CUPE Alberta President Rory Gill said he wasn’t surprised by the results.

“Alberta has the second highest COVID-19 levels in Canada, and instead of taking action to fight the pandemic, Jason Kenney is picking fights with doctors and firing health care workers,” said Gill. “That’s not good for anyone.”

The poll asked Albertans’ opinions of the Kenney government handling of COVID-19, health care, and the recent one-day strike by health care workers.

Gill said the poll shows the UCP on the wrong track when it comes to health care, with 69 per cent opposed to outsourcing of 11,000 health care workers.

“Albertans understand that outsourcing is code for cutbacks, lower quality of care, and health care chaos, and they’re not buying it,” said Gill.

Gill noted that 69 per cent of Albertans supported health care workers striking for their jobs, a number that only dropped slightly when respondents were reminded the strike was illegal.

 

Results:

Roots to Power: Workshop series

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SAVE THE DATE

We would like to invite you to attend the first installment in CUPE Alberta’s Roots to Power Series, which will focus on member mobilization and strike preparation. This free event will be held via Zoom on January 15th and 16th, 2021.

You can register at tinyurl.com/Roots2Power.

This two-day event will include speakers, a panel discussion with guests from across Canada, workshops on strike preparation, building alliances, mobilizing your membership, mapping your workplace, and an action planning session. This event is intended for all CUPE members, and there is no limit to how many members a local can sign up.

For more information, please contact Matthew Lensen, Education Representative, at mlensen@cupe.ca.

We look forward to seeing you in 2021.