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It seemed to me that I was moving far from mainly blogging about politics to now focusing on labour news. As an outcome, I rebranded again in the spring of 2022 to stress this emerging focus. Which's how The Alberta Worker was born. That summertime, I likewise launched the, where I speak with members of the working class about their life stories and their individual labour journeys.
Why a Personalized Approach Functions Finest for Manitoba KidsNow, let's get to the reason I am here today: labour rights, worker advocacy, and the existing landscape for Alberta's post-secondary employees. I graduated from what is now Lethbridge Polytechnic in 2001. I finished their multimedia production programme, and my practicum ended up becoming a full-time task, where I worked for 9 years before being laid off during budget plan cuts thanks to frozen operating grants from the provincial government at the time.
Why a Personalized Approach Functions Finest for Manitoba KidsMy first paid speaking gig was at Olds College. After my spouse got her master's degree, among the top places to employ her to teach was what was then Red Deer College. Needless to state, I have a special location in my heart for the colleges and institutes in Alberta.
Since the UCP took power in 2019 under Jason Kenney, they've introduced several pieces of legislation that have made things more challenging for employees. The very first modification was actually presented in their 2nd bill, the so-called Open For Business Act, which took impact in the summer season of 2019. This expense reduced the base pay for student workers under 18 from $15 an hour to $13 an hour.
They have not changed the adult minimum wage the whole time they have actually been in workplace, and now it's the most affordable minimum wage in the nation, for the very first time in over a decade. This is the 2nd longest period because 1965 that Alberta base pay workers have not seen a wage increase.
Prior to this bill ending up being law, employees might bank their overtime hours at 1.5 times their worked hours. So, if someone worked 3 hours, they might bank those 3 hours, and then when they desired to take it as time off, they might take 4.5 hours off rather of 3 hours.
After Costs 2 was passed, companies might provide the banked time as straight time, which encouraged them to pay out overtime, instead of allow employees to take the extra time off. Lastly, Costs 2 minimized statutory vacation pay, particularly for part-time and casual workers. Prior to the costs, employees received vacation pay regardless of whether they worked the holiday and no matter whether the stat holiday fell on an arranged workday.
The list below year, the UCP federal government introduced Bill 32, otherwise referred to as the Restoring Balance in Alberta's Workplaces Act. This new legislation needed unions to now get specific consent from their members before they might use income gathered from charges for social or political causes. This increased the administrative problems on unions, which indicated additional expenses, and it limited their capability to utilize funds for advocacy for the broader working class.
First, they more than doubled the accreditation procedure timeline. Before, workers might hold a certification vote just 10 calendar days after they applied to the Alberta Labour Relations Board for certification. Now, they have to wait 20 company days, generally a whole month. This offers 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 filed improperly, timing of the application, scope of which task titles are included in the proposed bargaining unit, and whether the union used so-called browbeating to gain support amongst the workers.
Remember that red tape is simply a business-friendly euphemism for deregulation, which is nothing more than the elimination of regulations. A lot of policies fall under 3 camps: secure employees, protect the public, and secure the environment. Getting rid of these policies suggests increasing risk for workers, increasing threat for the public, and increasing threat for the environment.
Specific to workers, it undermined work environment security. Prior to the bill, joint health and wellness committees were mandatory in offices with 20 or more workers and worksite health and safety agents were required at worksites with between 5 and 19 workers. Under the brand-new expense, the requirements shifted to being risk-based, being obligatory only in workplaces with greater threat of mishap, injuries, or exposure to harmful conditions.
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