After forming government in 2019, the United Conservative Party (UCP) immediately started attacking workers. They gutted improvements to labour law that had been brought in by the Alberta NDP, cut the minimum wage and overtime pay, undermined the right for workers to refuse unsafe work, and violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms by making it harder to join and participate in a union.
Last year, a UCP leadership race was called after then leader – and Alberta Premier – Jason Kenney was pushed out by his own party members. On the sixth and final round of voting, Danielle Smith was elected UCP leader and became Premier of Alberta.
As Premier, despite a string of criticisms and controversies, Smith was clear; she wanted to take the UCP’s attacks on workers, their families and communities even further. Faced with the choice of this increasingly extremist anti-worker premier and party and the worker-friendly Alberta NDP, led by Woman of Steel Rachel Notley, the USW District 3 produced a special election issue of USW@Work for Alberta members, and signed onto an Alberta Federation of Labour email and text program, offering information on how and where to vote.
USW District 3 also organized Steelworkers Vote Schools in Edmonton and Calgary. Dozens of members took part and learned about the impact provincial governments can have on workers and their unions. They learned how to influence policy and got to see first-hand the impact of political action.
While the UCP did manage to form a majority government, Steelworkers helped the Alberta NDP form the largest and strongest opposition ever to sit in the legislature.
In the evenings and weekends, members volunteered in key swing ridings across Calgary. In two of the three regions where Steelworkers were trusted to connect with voters, the Alberta NDP narrowly won new seats in what was the closest election in Alberta’s history.
This article appears in the Summer 2023 issue of USW@Work magazine.
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