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Edmonton Paramedic services (our ambulance workers) members of CUPE 3197 are on an Illegal Strike as of today Friday June 1. Pickets are up at city hall and Station 42 (105 St. and 105 ave. Tonight from 7-10 on Whyte Ave. and 105 St. there will be an information picket line to raise the public profile of the strike. NEWS FLASH Mayor Declares State of Emergency Mayor Bill Smith has declared a state of emergency in Edmonton due to the current wildcat strike by city paramedics. The paramedics are on strike in defiance of a ruling by the Alberta Government declaring them an essential service. Smith has stated he will pay overtime and pressgang firefighters and possibly even nurses into service to scab on the paramedics. The Fightfighters are members of IAFF. The Canadian Federation of Nurses, the Nurses national union is having its convention in Edmonton but has not commented yet on Smiths announcement. Press releases and information are at the end of this email. Send Messages of Solidarity and Protest. Create a cyber picket line! Messages of solidarity can be sent to the local, as well as access to their web page: Edmonton Emergency Health Services Personnel, CUPE LOCAL 3197 Web Page: http://www.eehsp.com/
10950-124 st. Edmonton, AB Canada, T5M 0H5 Electronic mail cupe3197@eehsp.com Messages of protest demanding the city of Edmonton goes back to the bargaining table can be phoned to the City Action Line at: City of Edmonton Press Releases on the Strike Mail the Mayor, Bill Smith Mayor’s Office phone number: (+1) (780) 496-8100 2nd Floor, City Hall
Fax: (+1) (780)496-8292 Send and E-Mail to City Council CONTACTS: Councillor’s general office phone: 496-8110 (Wards 2 & 4)
Messages of protest opposing the government declaring the strike illegal and the paramedics as essential services, in violation of ILO and ICFTU rulings on freedom of association, can be sent to: Alberta Labour Relations Board
Hon. Clint Dunford (PC)
Constituency Office
The Premier’s Office
May 31,2001 Edmonton, Alberta Government Prevents Job Action by Edmonton’s Paramedics Klein warns paramedics to end illegal strike WebPosted Fri Jun 1 16:20:00 2001 EDMONTON - More than 260 ambulance workers and paramedics in Alberta’s capital city defied the provincial government and walked off the job Friday afternoon. As they rallied in a downtown park, Premier Ralph Klein issued a stern warning from a conference in Saskatchewan: return to work or wind up in court. “I think the withdrawal of ambulance services puts people who are sick and injured at risk,” Klein told reporters. “I think they’re acting inappropriately and irresponsibly, and I would encourage them to rethink very, very quickly their position.” Paramedics served 72-hour strike notice on Wednesday. On Thursday, the government passed an emergency order prohibiting the paramedics from striking. It declared the walkout a threat to public health and safety under Alberta’s Labour Relations Code. The province’s Labour Minister Clint Dunford told the union and city of Edmonton to sit back down and negotiate a contract within the next 30 days. If they couldn’t come up with an agreement, a binding settlement would then be imposed by a Calgary lawyer by early August, the minister said. But the Canadian Union of Public Employees refused to take part in the “sham negotiating process” and pulled its members off the job. “The city knows that an agreement will be imposed on us after 30 days, so all they’ll do is sit back and wait,” local union president Randy Littlechild said in a news release Friday. Wages are a central issue. Edmonton paramedics want a 21-per-cent increase over three years. The city is offering about half that amount. But the union has insisted that it’s fighting for more ambulance units, not just a raise, and that the dispute is really about public safety. Klein’s government is considering legislation that would classify paramedics as essential employees, like nurses, who cannot go on strike legally. The proposal may become law this fall. Labour Net Canada
Canada Labour News
Alberta Labour News
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