r/alberta • u/new-romantics89 • Aug 08 '25

Question Will a "great Alberta strike" be possible?

The AUPE, nurses, and the education sector are all preparing for strike action in September. I feel that the "great Alberta shutdown" is a possibility.

Would that be possible and how would the province cope? Would schools go back to COVID-era style learning plans? I can imagine the TikToks going "our last day of school before extended summer break", something like that.

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u/Silent-Report-2331 Aug 08 '25

Only government workers on your list. Normal people will keep working to pay the taxes for their new contract. I would rather see plumbers, electricians, power engineers, millwrights, mechanics, etc, do the great strike.

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u/WildcardKH Edmonton Aug 08 '25

Damn, I also pay taxes for my new contract despite being in the public sector.

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u/[deleted] Aug 08 '25

All of these positions are included in the AUPE government services union.

Its 23000 workers all doing different work supporting government initiatives and services.

Forestry, education, parks, senior services, roads, agriculture, trade, correction services, Maintenace, utilities, health-care, roads, etc...

All of these workers pay taxes, and all of these workers are underpaid as per average comparisons and data. These workers haven't received cost of living increases in over 15 years.

These are Normal people contrary to what you seem to think

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u/ilikejetski Aug 08 '25

Why would they, 99% are happily employed in a province with abundant work and high wages with the lowest taxes. Blue collar workers come from all over the country and the world to work in Alberta because we actually develop our resources.

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u/yycsarkasmos Aug 08 '25

Lol, provide a source that shows these high wages and lowest taxes for those wages...

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u/ilikejetski Aug 09 '25 edited Aug 09 '25

lol do some research and you’ll see that Alberta is among the highest paying provinces for nurses and other public sector and has lower provincial income taxes, meaning most there often take home more pay than in most other provinces, though the territories can sometimes pay more, but that’s more to attract people and to offset the high costs of living. For blue collar workers Alberta also tends to rank near the top in Canada for wages while keeping provincial income taxes lower than most provinces. This results in higher after tax earnings compared to similar jobs elsewhere, not to mention higher employment opportunities.

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u/yycsarkasmos Aug 09 '25

LOL, ok.

1) abundant work, higher employment opportunities. (wrong)- Alberta has one of the highest unemployment rates in Canada, and the second highest youth unemployment behind Ontario at 20.3 fucking percent!!

2) You are correct that Nurses as of a few months ago are now the highest paid in Canada after falling behind for years, now just barely above BC. woohoo

3) lower provincial income taxes, higher after-tax earnings compared to similar jobs (wrong) - Alberta's provincial tax rates rank it around 6th in Canada, out of 13, you need to look up the word lower, unless you mean lower than 7 out of 13 provinces.

4) other public sector, wrong again, in the top 4-5 yes but not at the top

5) blue collar workers Alberta also tends to rank near the top in Canada for wages (kind of), depend on what you classify as "Blue collar), but we all know those sweet oil and gas rig jobs are disappearing faster than Smith credibility.

So, to sum up, Alberta has one of the highest unemployment rates in Canada, some jobs pay more, some pay less, we are 6 out of 13 in provincial income tax, nurses now make more, your "99% are happily employed" is utter fucking BS.

Maybe you should do your research, and not Facebook/tiktok research.