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EDMONTON – A recent study by the Fraser Institute claiming that public sector workers in Alberta earn 10 per cent more than private sector workers uses deeply flawed methodology, said CUPE Alberta President Marle Roberts. 

The study compares apples and oranges,” said Roberts. “It compares police officers to security guards, when there is an obvious difference in training and responsibility. It compares teachers and nurses with retail clerks of similar age and background – obviously the two have no relation at all.”

CUPE Alberta represents 35,000 members across the municipal, school board, and health care sectors.

When you compare actual jobs across the public and private sector, the difference is closer to 0.5 per cent in favour of public sector workers,” said Roberts, quoting a 2011 CUPE study.

The Fraser Institute study is an obvious attempt to attack the people who teach our children, heal our sick, and collect our garbage,” said Roberts. “If governments want to reduce their deficits, they might look to a tax system in which everyone pays their fair share.”
  

For more information, please contact:

Lou Arab
Communications Representative
 780.271.2722