Illegally striking Alberta Union of Provincial Employees jail guards have reached an agreement with the government of Premier Alison Redford in “discussions” that Deputy Minister Thomas Lukaszuk said would never happen.

AUPE announced five minutes ago that it had reached ago a deal with the provincial government that includes no retribution for any AUPE member who walked off the job and a full occupational health and safety review of all issues raised by the Correctional Peace officers in the new Edmonton Remand Centre.

The guards walked off the job Friday after one of their colleagues was disciplined for speaking out against the AUPE members’ safety concerns about the new 2,000-bed jail, which opened just two weeks ago. The agreement reached tonight sounds to me like vindication for the guards and their safety concerns.

The wildcat strike started at the Edmonton remand centre and quickly spread to 10 other jails across the province. Yesterday, the approximately 2,500 CPOs were joined by Alberta Sheriffs, Probation Officers, court workers and social workers, all but shutting down court proceedings in Edmonton and Calgary.

The members of AUPE Local 003 ignored an order of the Alberta Labour Relations Board to return to work and for a time also defied an order of a judge – an action that resulted in a contempt conviction that will cost their union $350,000.

But their determination, and the spontaneous support they quickly garnered from the public, also demonstrates they are a force to be reckoned with.

More details will be available soon in the mainstream media, presumably, and additional commentary will be posted in this space.

This post also appears on David Climenhaga’s blog, Alberta Diary.

David J. Climenhaga

David J. Climenhaga

David Climenhaga is a journalist and trade union communicator who has worked in senior writing and editing positions with the Globe and Mail and the Calgary Herald. He left journalism after the strike...