Media Advisory: CUPE Alberta Convention This Week in Edmonton

EDMONTON, Alberta--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The annual convention of the Alberta Division of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE Alberta) will take place this Wednesday to Friday in Edmonton at the Westin Hotel.

CUPE Alberta represents 44,000 Albertans working for municipalities, school districts, health care agencies, as well as workers in the post-secondary, social services, museums and library sectors.

CUPE Alberta President Raj Uppal expects discussion to revolve around multiple issues facing Alberta, including:

• Poor funding for municipalities and infrastructure,
• Long wait times and unacceptable backlogs in health care,
• Overcrowded classrooms,
• The move by the UCP to take Alberta out of the Canada Pension Plan,
• The attack on workers' rights to bargain and strike
• The scapegoating of newcomers by Danielle Smith

“There are far too many attacks on workers and public services from our provincial government,” said Uppal. “We need to build an alternative, and we need to do everything we can to push back and defeat the UCP.”

Convention highlights include:

Wednesday March 18^th

3:45 pm Speech by CUPE Alberta President Raj Uppal

Thursday March 19^th

10:00 am Speech by CUPE National President Mark Hancock
2:00 pm Speech by CUPE National Secretary Treasurer Candace Rennick
3:30 pm Speech by Alberta NDP leader Naheed Nenshi

Media are invited to attend and report on any part of the convention

:clc/cope 491