[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by Slava

Can you give me specifics?

I shared a link which lists all of the changes, how much more specific are you looking for?

I read the link and it doesn’t seem like there are huge issues there.

Makes you wonder why the UCP are so committed to repealing the changes if they aren’t huge issues, doesn’t it?

Is this a minimum wage issue or what specifically are we talking about.

Kenney has stated he will maintain the current minimum wage however he wants to introduce a system where minors would be paid less. So yes that’s definitely one of the issues. I know many will try to argue that some form of two tiered system is sensible legislation, however if the goal in raising the minimum wage is to reduce poverty then I see little benefit in giving employers incentives to not hire adults who are relying on a job to make ends meet, nor do I see the benefit in paying a teen who may also be relying on that job to make ends meet less than an adult who is doing the same.

And how was Alberta’s labour code particularly weak? What rights do/did other workers have that we didn’t have here?

The provisions for job protected unpaid leaves of absence were not radical ideas the Alberta NDP drummed up out of nowhere, other jurisdictions had similar rights. Other things like severance entitlement in Alberta were, and remain, below what employees are entitled to in other jurisdictions. I’m not going to itemize each change that was made and point to which other jurisdictions had those rights for their employees before workers in Alberta did, you’re free to do that on your own time. Long story short, the majority of changes that were implemented were already legislated in other jurisdictions, Alberta not having these same protections/rights is why our labour laws were considered much weaker than other jurisdictions’.

Is this the unionization issue we talked about last year?

Our previous legislation regarding labour unions also made it more difficult to form a union in Alberts compared to other jurisdictions, a big part of the reason why is that they previously provided very little protection for employees attempting to organize unions. So yes those previous laws also contributed to our overall weaker legislation.