Failed lab services privatization experiment shows profits don’t belong in Alberta health care

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CALGARY—The Alberta government announced today that medical laboratory services provided by DynaLIFE will be transferred back to Alberta Precision Laboratories (APL), a subsidiary of publicly owned Alberta Health Services (AHS). DynaLIFE’s message to all staff stated, “This transition to AHS will allow resources to be more effectively deployed across the province, enhancing patient care.”

“This is a victory for public health care and a serious indictment of experiments in privatizing our public services,” said CUPE Alberta Division President Rory Gill. “When politicians turn our health care system into a profit-making venture for corporations, they spend as little as possible on front-line services to ensure their shareholders make money. The result is that patient care suffers. Lab services are returning to where they belong—under the umbrella of public health care.”

CUPE Local 8 represents drivers who transport lab samples across southern Alberta for DynaLIFE. These workers have been through multiple changes of employers in recent years, from Calgary Laboratory Services to DynaLIFE to Alberta Public Laboratories (later renamed Alberta Precision Laboratories), back to DynaLIFE again, and now back under APL.

“These drivers are providing life-saving services to Albertans as they transport vital lab samples across southern Alberta,” said Kelly Spence, President of CUPE Local 8. “They are simply trying to do their jobs, and they don’t deserve the chaos they’ve been put through by the government.”

Paying southern Alberta DynaLIFE drivers fairly would help fix staffing shortages

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Media Release issued:

Short staffing of drivers for DynaLIFE in southern Alberta is being driven, at least in part, by low wages compared to their northern Alberta counterparts. The southern Alberta drivers, represented by CUPE Local 8, were in bargaining today with their employer and highlighted the disparity, which ranges from a 13% gap at the bottom of the pay scale to a 19% gap at the top. The drivers have been in the current round of bargaining for more than two years.

“Short staffing of essential positions like this is a risk to the public,” said Kelly Spence, President of CUPE Local 8. “These are the drivers in southern Alberta who are transporting lab samples that are saving people’s lives every day. But when workers aren’t compensated fairly, positions are difficult to fill, and the system is strained.”

Spence also highlighted the importance of maintaining pensions for the DynaLIFE drivers, who are part of the Local Authorities Pension Plan (LAPP).

“It’s imperative that pensions for all workers are maintained and strengthened, whether we’re talking about workplace pensions or about the broader issue of protecting the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) for all Albertans,” said Spence. “The aim for governments and employers alike should be to make retirement better for Alberta workers, not worse.”

Union representing City of Chestermere workers to hold community meet & greets

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Photo credit: City of Chestermere

CHESTERMERE — The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 37, which represents City of Chestermere employees, is hosting meet and greets for the community tomorrow and Friday, August 11. Elected leaders and staff of the union will be present to speak with the workers, community members, and local media about the importance of the services they provide, along with facts about the union.

“City of Chestermere employees voted last year to join the union to give them a voice in their workplace that will be heard and respected,” said CUPE Alberta Division President Rory Gill. “These are the workers you see clearing the snow and repairing the roads, collecting the garbage and recycling, keeping the city parks maintained, and enforcing community safety among many other city services. These workers are the union, and we are proud to represent them and support them.”

Meet and greet locations:

  • City Hall (105 Marina Rd, Chestermere) at 7:30 a.m.
  • Fire Station (156 E Chestermere Dr, Chestermere) at 7:00 a.m.
  • Public Works (281107 Township Rd 243, Chestermere) at 7:00 a.m.

CUPE responds to K-12 Mandate Letter

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CUPE Alberta President Rory Gill made the following statement today in response to Danielle Smith’s education mandate letter. CUPE represents over 10,000 school support staff across Alberta.

“Danielle Smith’s mandate letter to the Minister of Education does almost nothing to address the biggest concerns of Albertans. The UCP has already stepped away from their promise to hire almost 1,400 Educational Assistants. Now, their refusal to address stagnant wages will only make the situation worse.

The average wage for Educational Assistants in Alberta is just $27,500 per year. These dedicated workers are falling further behind every day and need an immediate, meaningful and sustained increase to their wages so they can keep working in public education. School districts are already losing staff due to underfunding and wages that fall further and further into poverty levels.

The dedicated, and vastly underpaid school workers are suffering. The people who keep our kids safe, on track, and learning need help to allow them to do what they love.

We work for Alberta kids. Danielle Smith should recognize that and work to treat our members with dignity. Kids are counting on it.”

National Indigenous Peoples Day

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On June 21, we acknowledge the ongoing, fierce advocacy of our Indigenous members and Indigenous people across the country. As Canada’s largest union, we acknowledge that it is more important than ever to respect the rights of Indigenous peoples to their unceded territories, as well as to preserve and protect their cultures and languages.

Condolences extended to family and friends of Dennis Mol

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CUPE Alberta Division would like to recognize the life and service of our past president Dennis Mol, who unfortunately passed away on May 16, 2023.

Dennis was the President of Local 30 and CUPE Alberta from 2009 to 2011. His service to the union and its members, as well as his kindness, dedication and friendship, will be sorely missed.

Please share with us in passing on our deepest condolences to his family.

 

https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/edmonton-ab/dennis-mol-11296428

We stand united and continue to fight for what our members deserve

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President of CUPE Alberta, Rory Gill, released the following statement on the results of the provincial election.

“Although we’re not where we hoped to be today, and although we believed we would have been able to find an easier way forward with an NDP government, we know we must stand united and continue to fight for what our members and Albertans deserve.

Our union and our movement worked hard to make a change in this election, and while this result hurts, it clearly shows that we can’t stop imagining and organizing for a better world.

We saw thousands of members come out yesterday across the province demanding that their concerns be taken seriously; demanding that their rights be honoured; demanding better wages and respect in their workplaces.

We know that there is a crisis in education in Alberta and we’re not going to wait for the UCP to continue to destroy it, privatize it and offer our members disrespectful sub-par wages.

We have a clear plan on how to solve the crisis in education and we are ready to come together this summer and make sure that we continue to protect education and protect our members while the UCP continues to implement its anti-worker, anti-union and anti-Alberta agenda.

Our members are united and CUPE Alberta will continue to stand up for the people we serve.

This better world is no further away this morning than it was yesterday because all of us are here and all of us are ready to build it. We will build this power every day, united in the goal of making a world where we all have worth and none of us are left behind.”