Provincial union members stormed the Alberta Legislature Wednesday to cry foul on new legislation that forces wage freezes on unionized public servants and introduces greater penalties for illegal strike action.

Roughly 150 unionized protesters stomped and shouted inside the legislature rotunda, just one floor above the media room where Finance Minister Doug Horner and Progressive Conservative House Leader Dave Hancock briefed reporters on the two contentious bills.

Bill 46, the Public Service Salary Restrainment Act, will force the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) to return to the bargaining table or accept a 0% wage increase for their 21,642 members in 2013-14 “to help the government reach a balanced budget.”

If a new deal isn’t reached by January 31, 2014, the legislation will automatically introduce a four-year wage settlement with AUPE of 0% for the next two years and 1% for the two years after with a $875 lump-sum payment to eligible members in year two.

“We’ve been abundantly clear with the public sector unions — including the AUPE — that we need to hold the line on salaries,” said Horner. “We want to negotiate a long-term agreement that continues to be fair to our workers and allows us to live within our means, just like we did with our doctors and our teachers.”

Horner said negotiations with the AUPE started when the collective agreement expired in March, but stalled after 12 days when the AUPE applied for binding arbitration, a step not taken by the AUPE for more than 30 years.

Bill 46 ends the arbitration process where a independent third party would forge a deal between the government and the AUPE, and instead legislates its own terms for an agreement.

Bill 45, The Public Sector Services Continuation Act, proposes stiffer penalties for unions involved in illegal strikes to the tune of $1 million per day of strike action.

“It’s not the type of bill that either Doug or I or the government want to bring forward,” Hancock said.

“We don’t take any glee in sponsoring bills of these natures but it became very apparent throughout the course of the fall that we weren’t going to get movement (from AUPE).”

AUPE President Guy Smith said the government is “dismantling” Alberta’s system of free collective bargaining to impose a settlement.

“There’s two routes for resolving bargaining issues, one is strike action — whether it’s legal or not — and the other is arbitration and they’ve taken both away,” said Smith, noting they negotiated for wage increases of 3% each year, for two years.

“Now there’s a gun to our head about what’s contained in that negotiation and if we can’t reach an agreement, they’ll force it down our throats anyway.”

Wildrose critic Rob Anderson said the government is intentionally ramming the bills through with limited debate in the final days of the legislative session.

“This is what gong show government looks like,” he said.

“A Wildrose government would never act in this way. Just because your negotiation isn’t going well, you don’t take away people’s arbitration rights that are in the contract that was signed. That’s not how you govern. That’s not good faith.”

NDP Leader Brian Mason agreed, calling the move a “colossal act of bad faith”.

“They’re short-circuiting the arbitration process,” said Mason. “I cannot understand why the government expects working people to take a step backwards in their standard of living when the economy is doing as well as it is.”

While it’s always been illegal for public sector employees to strike, Bill 45 would also see union dues suspended three months for the first day of a strike and an additional month for each day after that. Unions will now also face civil liabilities for a strike’s cost to employers.

Currently, the maximum fine for an illegal strike or lockout is $1,000 for each day of the strike. Bill 45 will see that number jump to over $250,000 in fines plus $50 for every member on the picket line.

matthew.dykstra@sunmedia.ca

@SunMattDykstra