The joint statement issued by the unions together with the Alberta Federation of Labour on January 11 is calling for a temporary prohibition of large gatherings, including concerts and sporting events; closing restaurants and bars to in-person dining; shutting down movie theatres and casinos; moving services at churches and other houses of worship online; moving all university and college classes online; closing gyms and suspending recreational sports; and, as a very last resort, moving all students in K-12 schools to online learning. Other measures proposed include the following:

Income supports must be provided to impacted workers and businesses, with only essential services continuing to operate while the emergency measures are in place.

Recognizing that COVID-19 is airborne, cloth or surgical masks should be replaced with respirators (N95 or KN95) provided free of charge and required in indoor public spaces; air quality monitors, upgraded HVAC systems and portable HEPA filters should be provided in the short term and, in the longer term, there must be new standards for air quality in all indoor work environments and public spaces, including schools.

The Precautionary Principle which says that public health authorities should implement all reasonable safety measures, even if all the science related to those measures is not yet completely settled, should be used to guide all decision-making. As recommended by the SARS Commission Report, policy should reflect the lens of workplace safety in addition to the lens of public health. The SARS Commission emphasized the integral role of workers in making workplaces safe, and that in worker safety, the integrated whole is greater than the uncoordinated parts.

The letter calls on the government to re-institute “Test-Trace-Isolate,” and reverse its dangerous decisions including ending most testing, moving to a five–day isolation period and allowing employers to “self-designate” as essential services in order to get around even the shortened five-day isolation period.

“Unless the goal is to actually infect the whole population (which would be outrageous, both from a medical and moral perspective) these policies are bound to backfire. Forcing people back to work when they’re still infectious will simply lead to more infections û and a longer, more brutal fifth wave. Clearly this is in no one’s best interest,” the statement says.

The government must also acknowledge “long-COVID” and that COVID-19 can attack multiple systems of the body, and persist as long-term disability. “The reality of ælong-COVID’ needs to be factored into all decisions the government makes about the pandemic.”

On-site booster clinics should be established in workplaces, acknowledging the difficulty of getting time off for many workers, as well as in schools to address the reality that Alberta has the lowest rates of vaccination among five to 11-year-olds in Canada.

Implement paid sick leave for all. About two-thirds of Alberta workers have no access to sick leave, the statement says. Ten days of employer paid sick leave must be made available to all workers.

For the full statement click here.

(Workers’ Forum, posted January 21, 2022)