Alberta public sector workers rallied in front of the Lethbridge provincial building on May 1, calling for action to address worker shortages. The rally marked International Workers’ Day and drew a small crowd.
Darren Graham, executive vice president of the Alberta Union of Provincial Workers, attributed the small crowd to the very issue employees were rallying to bring attention to.
“It’s a real crisis that we are seeing across our union and actually—we are hopeful that members can even come out and attend today because we are working so short,” he said. “It’s really hard for members because they are working through breaks and putting in extra hours, sometimes voluntarily. They are coming in early and leaving late because they feel that sense of obligation to get their work done.”
Graham said regardless of the outcome of the provincial election, the union wants to see a commitment from the province to fix worker shortages.
“There needs to be recognition that the cost of the most important factor in any organization is that of human resources and that right now the way things are headed, it’s just too high,” he said. “We need all Albertans to demand transparency on the delivery of service and accountability of our tax dollars; we need to demand legislation that puts in care ratios, client to worker ratios, workload processes to ensure that the most vulnerable are afforded the access to the services that they need and we need all Albertans to demand that access to the delivery of those services be universal, provided in a timely manner and delivered by a properly trained, qualified, publicly accountable workforce.”
There are many factors contributing to the lack of employees, according to Graham—these include an aging workforce, lack of support from employers and challenges with training and education. He said lacking mental and physical health support from employees is leading to employees being absent because of health issues and mean many retire as soon as possible.
“We have workers that are starting burn out and so as they develop health issues from just the overwork and the lack of work-life balance, then we have more workers that are off now and that impacts the services that we can offer to Albertans and there is no really easy fix to it other than making sure that we have proper worker to client ratios,” Graham said.
Union members also rallied in Calgary, Red Deer and Edmonton to mark the day.