EDMONTON - Now that she has won the UCP leadership race, Danielle Smith needs to come clean about her plans for things that matter to Alberta workers, says the president of Alberta’s largest worker advocacy organization, the Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL).

“With due respect, the vast majority of working Albertans are not thinking about the Sovereignty Act,” says AFL president, Gil McGowan. “They’re thinking about things like jobs, inflation, health care, and education. They’re also worried about retirement security for themselves and opportunities for young people that will keep their kids in the province.”

McGowan says that workers across the province want to make it immediately clear to Smith that her approach to labour rights, public services, and pensions must drastically break with the regressive path of the previous leader.

“Along with hundreds of thousands of working Albertans, I’m calling on Premier-designate Smith to waste no time in committing to respecting and serving the interests of workers in every community across the province,” says McGowan.

“If this new premier chooses to continue down the path of forcing the public to pay for political pet projects and private profits instead of good jobs and reliable public services, workers’ voices will be impossible to ignore — even if the UCP caucus wears their ear plugs.”

McGowan points out that Albertans have an important choice in the next election, “and if this government does not change its direction by respecting workers’ rights, putting our public services back together, and returning our hard-earned dollars back to our communities, the change will have to come at the ballot box.”

“Workers have a to-do list for the new premier,” concludes McGowan, “and it’s non-negotiable: reverse the rollbacks to labour rights; keep your hands off our pensions; fix our publicly delivered health care and education systems; and invest in good jobs through a worker-driven energy transition to a low-carbon economy. Alberta’s workers won’t be won over by wedge issues meant to divide and distract, and they won’t be sitting this election out; workers are demanding better.”

About the AFL

Representing 28 affiliated trade unions and over 170,000 unionized workers across Alberta, the Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL) is the leading voice for working Albertans. To learn more about the AFL’s advocacy on behalf of workers and their families, visit the federation’s website.

-30-

MEDIA CONTACT:
Michael Hurley
Director of Communications, AFL
Call or text: 647-382-8002
E-mail: [email protected]