By C1 Staff
ALBERTA — Alberta’s highest court upheld a ruling that the province’s civil service union was in contempt for not obeying labor board directives during an illegal strike by corrections officers.
However, CTV News reports that the Court of Appeals said a previous ruling went too far in ordering the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees to stop supporting the officers and to tell them to get back to work.
“It would be difficult to conclude that the circumstances were so serious and dangerous as to justify limiting the right to freedom of expression,” says the ruling.
Several officers walked off the job in April 2013 over safety concerns at Edmonton’s new remand center. They were soon joined by officers at other jails.
It was then that the Labor Relations Board ordered the officers back to work, and told the union to do the same. The directives were filed in court, and a judge found that the union had disobeyed the orders in comments to the media and on its website.
The judge then imposed restrictions on the union, stating what it could and couldn’t say. The union was no longer allowed to express solidarity with the striking officers or publish their version of strike-related news.
The union was also ordered to publish a “clear and unambiguous” directive on its website that members should return to work.
The Appeal Court found that while the strike was short-lived, the court order was permanent and thus went too far. There was also no evidence that the speech restrictions would get the workers back on the job.
The union has paid about $350,000 in fines as a result of the strike. Union president Guy Smith says that progress on the original issues that led to the walkout has been slow but real.