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And that's how The Alberta Employee was born. That summer season, I likewise introduced the, where I interview members of the working class about their life stories and their personal labour journeys.

Guiding minds

Now, let's get to the factor I am here today: labour rights, employee advocacy, and the existing landscape for Alberta's post-secondary employees. I finished from what is now Lethbridge Polytechnic in 2001. I finished their multimedia production program, and my practicum wound up developing into a full-time job, where I worked for 9 years before being laid off during budget plan cuts thanks to frozen operating grants from the provincial federal government at the time.

My first paid speaking gig was at Olds College. After my partner got her master's degree, among the top places to employ her to teach was what was then Red Deer College. Needless to say, I have an unique place in my heart for the colleges and institutes in Alberta.

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Considering that the UCP took power in 2019 under Jason Kenney, they have actually introduced several pieces of legislation that have made things more challenging for workers. The first modification was really presented in their second bill, the so-called Open For Service Act, which took effect in the summer season of 2019. This costs lowered the minimum wage for student workers under 18 from $15 an hour to $13 an hour.

On top of that, they have not altered the adult minimum wage the entire time they have actually been in workplace, and now it's the most affordable base pay in the country, for the first time in over a years. This is the 2nd longest period given that 1965 that Alberta base pay employees haven't seen a wage increase.

Prior to this bill ending up being law, employees could bank their overtime hours at 1.5 times their worked hours. So, if someone worked 3 hours, they could bank those 3 hours, and then when they desired to take it as time off, they could take 4.5 hours off rather of 3 hours.

After Expense 2 was passed, companies might offer the banked time as straight time, which motivated them to pay overtime, rather than enable employees to take the extra time off. Finally, Bill 2 minimized statutory vacation pay, especially for part-time and casual employees. Prior to the costs, workers received vacation pay no matter whether they worked the vacation and despite whether the stat holiday fell on a scheduled workday.

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The following year, the UCP federal government presented Costs 32, otherwise referred to as the Restoring Balance in Alberta's Workplaces Act. This new legislation required unions to now get explicit consent from their members before they could utilize income gathered from dues for social or political causes. This increased the administrative problems on unions, which implied extra costs, and it limited their ability to utilize funds for advocacy for the more comprehensive working class.

Before, employees could hold an accreditation vote simply 10 calendar days after they used to the Alberta Labour Relations Board for certification. This provides companies more time to unionbust.

Now, they can challenge procedural or technical issues on the accreditation procedure itself, such as small mistakes in the application, supporting files that were submitted improperly, timing of the application, scope of which task titles are consisted of in the proposed bargaining unit, and whether the union used so-called browbeating to get assistance amongst the workers.

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Red tape is just a business-friendly euphemism for deregulation, which is absolutely nothing more than the elimination of guidelines. Many guidelines fall into 3 camps: protect employees, secure the general public, and safeguard the environment. Removing these guidelines suggests increasing danger for workers, increasing risk for the general public, and increasing risk for the environment.

Particular to workers, it undermined workplace safety. Prior to the costs, joint health and wellness committees were necessary in workplaces with 20 or more employees and worksite health and safety representatives were needed at worksites with between 5 and 19 employees. Under the brand-new bill, the requirements shifted to being risk-based, being obligatory only in workplaces with higher threat of accident, injuries, or exposure to hazardous conditions.