AUPE Media Release: Coaldale workers vote to strike while town council goes on the attack

COALDALE—The Coaldale Mayor and Town Council, having awarded themselves massive pay increases, launched an attack on their own front-line workers for seeking reasonable wages, says the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE).

Today (Wednesday), Coaldale mayor and councillors attacked workers on social media. This followed recent large ads attacking AUPE members in local media.

“These politicians must have short memories,” says AUPE Vice-President Curtis Jackson. “The mayor and councillors awarded themselves huge salary increases in 2022, but are now publicly attacking their own staff in the press and on social media.”

He adds: “When citizens of Coaldale vote this October, they should bear in mind that the council voted to raise the mayor’s salary by 42.01% and to boost their own salaries by 31.71%.”

The Town of Coaldale also spends far more on management and out-of-scope senior staff than other comparable municipalities.

“The CAO makes more than $240,000 a year and has built an oversized management team around him. With such a buffer between himself and the employees who actually keep the town running, it’s no wonder he’s out of touch with the workforce,” says Jackson.

Coaldale spends nearly $3 million every year on 29 senior staff, while their front-line workforce numbers only 43. In comparison, the City of Lethbridge has 29 out-of-scope staff and 900 permanent workers. The Special Areas Board (which administers part of southeastern Alberta including the communities of Consort, Empress, Hanna, Oyen, Veteran, and Youngstown) has 14 out-of-scope staff and 115 front-line workers.

“There’s plenty of money for them, but precious little for the people who provide critical services for the people of the town,” says Jackson.

“Where was their concern for town finances when the council voted themselves huge raises and oversaw an extremely top-heavy workforce?”

Jackson also points out that the council continues to put out misleading figures in the media and on social media.

“The truth is that they continue to seek rollbacks for our members and seem to be eager to lock them out, even though meeting our demands would cost less than $100,000 per year more,” he adds.

“It’s this failure to bargain and the continuing public attacks that led our members to vote 83% in favour of striking yesterday (Tuesday). Any disruption to services lies entirely at the feet of the employer.”

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Curtis Jackson is available for interviews.

To arrange an interview, contact Terry Inigo-Jones, Communications Officer, at t.inigo-jones@aupe.org.