Bill 28, the Municipal Affairs and Housing Statutes Amendment Act, is an omnibus bill introduced by the current UCP government with the goal of changing municipal rules, circumventing the municipal housing approvals process, and increasing provincial government control of libraries regarding what it deems “explicit materials”. It has been widely criticized by civil society organizations, community groups, municipalities as well as unions.
Your union is deeply troubled by this new piece of legislation, both on its impacts to our members, municipalities as well as the broader communities that we serve.
CUPE has shared its fears about how this bill will impact library workers who will have to make sense of the confusing, vague, and problematic legislation, and how it will require the physical segregation of library materials the government deems “explicit” . For more information on how this new bill will affect libraries and our members please see statements by CUPE Alberta at their website.
As many members have read on Bookmarked, Our Library system is part of a group called CAP Libraries (CAP Libraries or The Coalition of Alberta Public Libraries, was formed as an offshoot of the Rural Municipalities of Alberta, An advocacy group for municipal governments) which has also expressed its concerns with this bill.
What can we do?
Members can share their concerns about this legislation with their MLAs. CAP Libraries has launched a handy online form letter to help express concerns around Bill 28 to the Premier, Minister, and local MLAs. It just takes a few minutes. You can access the digital postcard here.
CUPE is constantly lobbying the current government to change or scrap this, as well as many other pieces of problematic legislation. You can sign up for CUPE Albert updates at CUPE Alberta.
Members can also attend rallies and let their powerful voices be heard by the government. There will be several rallies upcoming that will be listed on our website. Your executive will be attending, and encourages you to attend, if you are able, as well.
Talk about it.
It still might surprise our informed members that some citizens have not even heard about this legislation. Members are encouraged to talk about this bill and its implications with their social circles. We can get the word out and get people to pay attention to what is a very important problem.
In Solidarity, CUPE Local 1169 Executive Committee