City of Calgary Workers Vote in Favor of Strike Action

Thousands of City of Calgary workers voted in favor of strike action last week, to back contract demands.

According to the president of Local 38 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), D’Arcy Lanovaz 89% of members who voted were in favor of a strike action. Overall, nearly 4,200 out of 5,000 members voted between May 15 and 16.

“It sends a very clear message to the employer that their offer is well below the expectations of the members”, said Lanovaz. “It is certainly far apart from our position and our offer to the employer.”

CUPE is a union representing Canada’s “Inside Workers”, which includes workers in health care, education, social services, municipalities, libraries, airlines, utilities, transportation and so on.

Lanovaz says members are concerned with wages and more flexibility on work-from-home policies are the main issues to be addressed. He stated that the union has resumed contract talks with the city and a mediator on Tuesday morning.

If no resolution is reached, city workers would implement work-to-rule, followed by rotating strikes. The work-to-rule would include refusing overtime and performing only the tasks and duties included in an employee’s job description.

If no agreement is reached during the work-to-rule, other labor actions from rotating job action to a full strike could be next option.

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