Hi everyone,
 
With the election just a couple of weeks away, we want to provide you with an update regarding a recent meeting Carrie Beecraft, one of our members, had with MLA Rick Mciver, who is also our province’s Minister of Municipal Affairs.
 
Carrie has been a long time disability sector worker and advocate, having worked in the space on and off since 2008. During that time, she has served in many positions, including as a Community Resource Worker and a Payroll Administrator, providing her with a thorough understanding of Alberta’s disability sector.
 
This helped ensure that Carrie’s meeting with MLA Rick Mcivers was very productive. During their conversation, Carrie stressed that our members need support now. She told the minister about how she, firsthand, has experienced all the frustration, discrimination, burn out, and the lack of pay that comes with the many roles when working in the sector, all of which was only exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
Carrie also called attention to the fact that our members haven’t seen a wage increase since 2014, even though other unionized sectors such as nurses and teachers are on-track to get modest wage increases at present (something that we, of course, support).
 
In a positive development, Minister Mciver was very receptive to Carrie’s arguments and assured her he would work to address issues facing our sector, especially the pay gap. We’re looking forward to working with him in the coming weeks to make concrete improvements for our membership.