Demand for Urgent Action in Alberta to Curb COVID-19
Alberta Federation of Labour Resolution October 23, 2020. Rally in Red Deer to oppose Kenney government
cuts
(AUPE)
The Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL) Executive Council
unanimously adopted a resolution on November 19 which sets out a
concrete set of actions needed to stop the spread of COVID-19 and
support Albertans through the second wave of the pandemic, and calls on
the government to implement these measures immediately. The
resolution also demands that the government stop its attacks on doctors
and health care workers, stop its privatization schemes, and stop
actions to undermine the health and safety of Alberta workers.
The resolution calls on the government to immediately:
- Enact a "circuit-breaker" lockdown to break the chains of
transmission and slow the spread of the virus, as recommended by
hundreds of doctors, health care policy experts and Alberta's largest
health care unions.
- Enact a province-wide mask mandate for all indoor public spaces, including all workplaces.
- Re-institute a single-site policy in long-term care facilities
(the policy was never really made functional in the first wave, the AFL
resolution notes).
- Introduce mandatory paid sick leave so people can actually afford to stay home when they're sick or when they need to isolate.
- Provide provincial income and financial support for Albertans who
lose their jobs as a result of a lockdown -- including a
provincially-mandated moratorium on evictions and foreclosures.
- Adopt the federal exposure notification app.
- Dramatically increase funding for schools -- so we can hire more
staff to cover when other staff are isolating and to shrink class sizes
to promote physical distancing.
- Formally recognize the new science on aerosol transmission of COVID-19.
- Invest significant and adequate amounts of provincial money in
proper ventilation in schools, health care facilities and workplaces,
so we can heed the new scientific evidence on aerosol transmission of
COVID-19.
- Update PPE guidance for all workers, especially those in the
health care sector, to accord with the new scientific consensus on the
aerosol transmission of COVID-19.
- Formally embrace the precautionary principle and acknowledge that
it should guide all COVID-19-related health and safety decisions in
Alberta workplaces.
- Release full information about outbreaks in private sector
workplaces (this was promised in April but has never been acted upon
fully, the AFL notes)
- Proactively inspect Alberta workplaces and levy fines on employers
who are putting their workers at risk by not following public health
guidelines.
- Adopt a zero-COVID, "crush and contain" strategy, similar to the
ones adopted by the jurisdictions around the world that have been most
successful at dealing with COVID-19 —- like New Zealand,
Australia and Taiwan (and also the provinces of the "Atlantic Bubble"
here in Canada).
- Develop a provincial vaccination plan so that we can move quickly to
distribute vaccines when they become available and overcome dangerous
misinformation campaigns.
The government must also:
- Stop driving doctors out of the province during a pandemic;
- Stop plans to lay off 11,000 health care workers during a pandemic;
- Stop underfunding our health care and education systems;
- Stop plans to privatize Alberta's public testing and lab
facilities, which continue to be such an important part of our pandemic
response;
- Stop legislation (Bill 47) aimed at stripping Albertans of their
right to refuse dangerous work. This right is always important, but
it's shocking that the government is trying to eliminate it during a
pandemic and when it is abundantly clear that not all employers are
following public health directives, the resolution states.
This article was published in
Number 81 - December 1, 2020
Article Link:
Demand for Urgent Action in Alberta to Curb COVID-19: Alberta Federation of Labour Resolution
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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