Alberta Health-Care Workers Could Be Fined, Suspended, Or Fired After Striking For 1 Day
Following an employee walkout on Monday, Alberta Finance Minister Travis Toews has announced that anyone who took part in the Alberta health-care strike might be facing "disciplinary options."
Hospital staff within the AUPE walked off the job earlier this week, reportedly in protest of Alberta's move to slash up to 11,000 jobs.
The strike lasted only one day before workers were ordered to return to work and the strike was deemed "illegal." Now, CBC News has reported that individual employees may be held accountable.
Editor's Choice: Jagmeet Singh Is Calling Out Trudeau For Saying The COVID-19 Pandemic 'Sucks'
“
They're looking at individual employee actions, individual employees who took part in the illegal walkout.
Minister Toews
The disciplinary actions the minster mentioned include fines, suspension, and even firing.
Toews said the Alberta Labour Relations Board will be looking into the involvement of union leaders and how involved they were in organizing the strike.
"Just from information in the public realm, it would appear that union leaders were instrumental, or certainly there was a high degree of possibility that union leaders were instrumental in the activities," Toews said.
The strike included employees across Alberta from hospitals in Canmore, Calgary, Edmonton, and many municipalities in the surrounding areas.
AUPE released a statement following their order to return to work.
"AUPE members won support from across Alberta for their heroic stand, and proved once and for all that healthcare staff is more than doctors and nurses," it said.
"AUPE is notifying all its members of the obligation to obey the ALRB order by returning to scheduled work."