Union files formal grievance against Alberta government over Truth and Reconciliation Day

Clement Chartier, president of the Metis National Council, watches as a ceremonial cloth with the names of 2,800 children who died in residential schools and were identified in the National Student Memorial Register, is carried to the stage during the Honouring National Day for Truth and Reconciliation ceremony in Gatineau, Quebec on Monday, Sept. 30, 2019. (THE CANADIAN PRESS / Justin Tang)

EDMONTON -

The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) has filed a formal grievance against the provincial government over it not recognizing the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation as a statutory holiday.

In a news release on Monday, the AUPE said by filing the paperwork it hopes to force the Alberta government to rethink the decision.

In August, a government spokesperson said, “The question on a work holiday is a decision for individual employers, unless an employee’s employment contract or collective bargaining agreement specifically grants federally-regulated holidays.

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In response to the government, AUPE vice-president Bobby-Joe Borodey said: “It defies common sense and decency.”

“If the government was going to leave this important responsibility up to employers, they should have taken a leadership role and honoured the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation themselves.”

The union filed the policy grievance after workers at Calgary courts were given notice the courts would not recognize the holiday, the statement read.

CTV News Edmonton has reached out to the government for comment.