{"id":258565,"date":"2025-11-03T10:04:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T10:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/258565\/"},"modified":"2025-11-03T10:04:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T10:04:11","slug":"albertans-shouldnt-expect-a-general-strike-anytime-soon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/258565\/","title":{"rendered":"Albertans shouldn\u2019t expect a \u2018general strike\u2019 anytime soon"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In the days after Alberta teachers were forced back to classrooms, leaders within the Alberta labour movement promised an unprecedented response from unions and workers across Alberta. And though Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour, \u00a0says that\u2019s still the plan, it doesn\u2019t mean an immediate general strike.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1761814748_447_70c8fc80.png\" alt=\"\" style=\"position:absolute;width:1px;height:1px\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are committed to doing what we can, and taking our place with the rest of civil society to push back against the direction of this government,\u201d explained McGowan. \u201cFragmenting our health care, privatizing it, under-funding our schools, attacking workers\u2019 rights, this is an agenda Albertans didn\u2019t vote for.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Nearly 30 different unions have signed onto the \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/afl.org\/action-pages\/solidarity-pact\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Common Front Solidarity Pact<\/a>\u2018, committing to a collective defense of Alberta workers. And according to McGowan a foundation for action is being laid.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re a workplace organization, so that\u2019s why we\u2019re talking about building towards a province-wide protest that will very likely include a general strike,\u201d McGowan said. \u201cI just want to stress, this is not something that anyone in the labour movement anywhere in Canada has done for more than 100-years. We don\u2019t have systems and mechanisms for this, there\u2019s no \u2018general strike\u2019 button.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n<p>In a statement the office of Nate Horner, Alberta minister of Treasury Board and Finance, says in part:<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"170\" height=\"225\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1761854947_61_national.jpg\" alt=\"For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\tGet breaking National news<\/p>\n<p>For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c\u2026In cases of illegal strike action, the Alberta Labour Relations Board imposes fines and penalties on both organizations and individuals. These processes and guidelines are already in place, and we expect the ALRB will carry out the necessary steps to address any illegal strike activity if it occurs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tMore on Calgary<br \/>\n\t\t\tMore videos\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>McGowan says organizing a general strike isn\u2019t their only option. They also intend to chip away at the province by supporting recall petitions targeting some UCP MLAs.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\tTrending Now\n\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/news\/11504878\/questions-remain-6-months-after-n-s-kids-go-missing\/\" class=\"c-posts__inner\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-posts__thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762164251_385_3cec34b8e8b0dc171070f55e4b3523ce1738920d4fcb534e955d25490a647f13_529427.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"336\" height=\"224\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\tWhere are Lilly and Jack? Questions remain 6 months after N.S. kids go missing\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/news\/11507629\/toronto-blue-jays-whats-next\/\" class=\"c-posts__inner\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-posts__thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762164251_292_fadf5d44e61de1eacf5d06a243b8924aee304272fe2aee89e6a2c71f3c02881c.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"336\" height=\"224\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\tAfter World Series loss, what\u2019s next for the Toronto Blue Jays?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>But while the use of the notwithstanding clause in Bill 2 was legal, not having the ability to challenge it within the legal system leaves groups like the Alberta Teachers Association with little option for recourse.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUltimately the accountability mechanism for the notwithstanding clause is the electorate,\u201d explained Chris Samuel, president of the Canadian Bar Association\u2019s\u00a0 Alberta branch, \u201cpeople expressing their disagreement with the government on it. And you see that process played out in the history of the notwithstanding clause.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In November 2022, in order to avert a strike by CUPE members, the Ontario provincial government invoked Section 33. In a matter of days, demonstrations and threats of a general strike built momentum across the province, and the Ford government ended up repealing Bill 28 and returned to the bargaining table shortly after.<\/p>\n<p>Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n<p>McGowan says a general strike could still happen in Alberta, but notes it could take weeks or even months to plan.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t&amp;copy 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the days after Alberta teachers were forced back to classrooms, leaders within the Alberta labour movement promised&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":258566,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[116193,48,43,46538,44,34168,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-258565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-alberta-federation-of-labour","tag-canada","tag-headlines","tag-labour-dispute","tag-news","tag-strike","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258565\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}