Members of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) and Friends of Medicare protested Bill 9 at the Leduc Community Hospital Tuesday.
"You enter into a deal with an employer in good faith, and now the government, through Bill 9, has broken that deal," said AUPE President Guy Smith. "These people feel disrespected. They work hard for Albertans every single day, and now the government has disrespected their rights."
Bill 9, the Public Sector Wage Arbitration Deferral Act, will delay wage arbitration with thousands of unionized employees. The bill became law in the spring session.
AUPE says the legislation violates their bargaining agreements, which included third-year wage arbitrations.
"I think every Albertan should be concerned about that," Smith said. "In Alberta, we know a deal is a deal, and we don't like it when the government oversteps its authority and uses a hammer on a group of people such as workers on the front line in the public service."
AUPE has held information pickets across the province since June 28, asking members to participate on their own time to stand against the legislation. There are more planned in the coming weeks.
The public sector union filed an injunction, with a hearing scheduled for July 29, and a statement of claim against the United Conservative Party alleging the bill is a violation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
