Push has come to shove and the crisis which will define Jason Kenney’s premiership is upon us. The collapse of the petrochemical industry and of course the COVID-19 pandemic are both pressing catastrophes on their own. But the issue which will make or break Jason Kenney’s time in office will be in how he manages the looming organized labour revolt..The “spontaneous” wildcat strikes held by health care support workers last Monday was a test run. A warning shot at best from Alberta’s unions to set the stage for larger actions. Today, a press conference involving a number of union leaders and headed by the Alberta Federation of Labor’s Gil McGowan was held where nothing less than a general strike was threatened if Jason Kenney doesn’t back off on a plan to outsource laundry and food services to health care facilities..Organized labour has drawn a line in the sand and Jason Kenney needs to jump across it without hesitation..The plan to outsource health care support services is far from unreasonable or controversial. While these services are indeed essential to running a health facility and much of the work is hard, these are not services that need to be done in-house by government employees. It has been contracted out before and it will be again. The issue of course is that in outsourcing these services while many of the jobs will simply be transferred rather than lost, many if not most of these jobs will become non-union..Union dues are big money and unions are big business. The AUPE which is responsible for the health care service support workers just built themselves a palatial new $49 million headquarters where their executives can relax in comfort while they count the money coming into their organization from the paycheques of real workers. Of course these union bosses are terrified at the prospect of losing that income. This fear has caused them to choose a terrible hill to die on, which is why the time to push back is perfect for Jason Kenney and the UCP..Aside from in the energy industry, there is no larger glut of unemployed people out there than in the hospitality industry. Tens of thousands of hotel and restaurant workers are out of work as the pandemic has utterly decimated their industry. These workers will be more than overjoyed to take on the job security which would come from providing services to contractors in the health sector. The government union workers are not filling a need which can’t be easily filled by others. If anything, wage concessions should be floated by union leadership in hopes of keeping those jobs rather than threats to Albertans..Albertans are fearful for both their economic futures and for the state of their health care. I can think of few ways that organized labour can lose the trust and support of citizens more effectively than by holding Albertans hostage by withholding health care services and refusing to take pay reductions as everybody else has had to. The government unions are putting themselves into a terribly unsympathetic position here..Our health care system and the spending upon it are unsustainable. Spending cuts are inevitable and they will hurt. Be reminded though that despite all of the noise from labour leaders, Alberta hasn’t actually cut a nickel of spending from health care yet. The UCP has actually increased health care spending since taking office. For the unions to threaten to put the entire province at risk with a general strike over this is ridiculous and Premier Kenney should call them out on this immediately..It will be tough to make cuts when the time comes, but it has to be done. The protests will come and the unions will strike. It should be remembered how Albertans responded to austerity before though. When Ralph Klein made deep spending cuts in his first term, unions went wild. Protests blossomed while tall foreheads predicted the demise of the Klein government. In the next election, Klein’s support increased. Klein continued to cut, unions continued to howl and in the next election, Klein increased his support yet again. Albertans understand the need for responsible spending and they appreciate it. This has been proven out..Jason Kenney has hit his defining moment in his premiership. He can either be the next Ralph Klein, or he can be the next Ed Stelmach. Let’s hope Premier Kenney chooses wisely. The time is now and he can’t hesitate..Cory Morgan is the Podcast Editor and a columnist for the Western Standard
