Redford backs controversial bargaining law that judge says stripped union rights

CALGARY – Alberta Premier Alison Redford is standing behind a controversial law that a judge says may violate the basic bargaining rights of the province’s largest public-sector union.

Redford says she has no plans to revisit the legislation despite the judge’s decision to suspend the law pending a hearing on whether it violates charter rights.

The law imposes wage freezes and one per cent salary hikes on the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees if there is no contract settlement by the end of March.

It also revokes the union’s right to arbitration.

The union has said those two elements did not give them a leg to stand on in negotiations.

Redford says the legislation was passed in December to get the union back to the bargaining table, but Justice Denny Thomas said it was Alberta government negotiators who left the table first.