Third failure this year – CUPE leader calls for co-operation between unions
CALGARY – For the third consecutive time this year, an attempt by the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) to raid CUPE has failed.
A ‘raid’ occurs when a union attempts to represent a group of employees represented by another union. For a raid to succeed, a union needs the signatures of 40% of employees on a petition, and the Labour Relations Board will order a representation vote. The signatures must be collected during ‘open periods’ as prescribed by the Labour Code.
AUPE had been attempting to collect signatures on a petition at Calgary’s Mount Royal Care Centre. The 70 employees of Mount Royal belong to CUPE. AUPE wasn’t able to convince enough Mount Royal employees to sign the petition during the open period.
CUPE Alberta President D’Arcy Lanovaz says this was the third raid attempt, and the third failure, by AUPE this year. In the spring, 800 employees of the Chinook Health Region voted by an almost 2 to 1 margin to remain with CUPE. Over the summer, AUPE failed in an attempt to raid 500 CUPE members at Capital Care in Edmonton.
“Three times AUPE has taken us on, and three times we’ve won,” said Lanovaz. “Three times we’ve been forced to put money and time on fighting a raid that should have been spent bargaining good contracts and enforcing them.”
Lanovaz called on AUPE to change tactics.
“I’m sure the members of AUPE, like Alberta’s Auxiliary Nurses, who have been without a contract for months, would rather their union focused on getting them a settlement, than waste staff time fighting CUPE.”
“There are hundreds of thousands of Albertans who have no union,” said Lanovaz. “It’s time for AUPE and CUPE to stop fighting each other and start trying to unionize Albertans who have no representation at all.”
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For more information, go to: http://www.alberta.cupe.ca