Alberta government leaving hundreds of millions of dollars for workers unclaimed, labour advocates say
New data obtained by the federal NDP show the Alberta government is a national outlier for leaving federal pandemic funds for frontline workers unclaimed.
The information, released by the Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL) on Friday, shows the provincial government has left at least $300 million on the table that could be used to pay top-up wages to health-care workers, correctional officers, first responders and other essential workers on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic.
While the stalemate with Alberta stretches into its seventh month, workers in Ontario, B.C., Manitoba and the Maritimes have already received danger pay for showing up to work in person during the spring and summer.
"To know that those workers are not getting the benefit that other workers across the country are getting makes me deeply, deeply disappointed," federal Edmonton-Strathcona NDP MP Heather McPherson said at a Friday news conference.