The Alberta government has decided to stop hiring new public service employees.

At the same time, newly vacant positions will not be filled unless critically needed.

The reason is the government is trying to balance the books with the recent provincial budget shortfall.

“This effort by the government to balance the books with a hiring freeze wasn’t unexpected given the well-known deficit situation of the province,” said Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) president Doug Knight in a press release.

“We’ve heard of similar unofficial hiring freeze policies in other sectors before this official statement from government.”

One of those freezes include Alberta Health Services employees, such as nurses.

Knight said in an interview July 27 the statement regarding new hiring restrictions was sent out to offices around the province July 24, and it has not been well received by the people his union represents.

He said Premier Ed Stelmach has told all departments they “have to take a bit of a hair cut.”

AUPE speaks for social workers, childcare workers, administrative support in the government, correction officers, provincial sheriffs, forest officers and biologists — to name a few.

He said the problem with a hiring freeze is putting more stress on areas already buckling from government cuts, such as Child Services.

Knight said not hiring new child care workers will mean they can spend less time with the family they are trying to help and increased workloads, which can lead to worker overload.

“Just last month AUPE members working in Child and Family Services held information pickets in Lethbridge and Medicine Hat to draw public attention to how heavy workloads were negatively affecting the communities they serve,” said Knight.

“A hiring freeze is only going to increase these problems. It’s a vicious circle with a hiring freeze — stressed employees leave the workplace and those that remain end up with even bigger workloads and more stress.”

Knight said it is also harder for recruitment and retention of government workers when they can find less-stressful and higher-paying jobs in the private sector.

He said past experience has shown that workload issues in Child and Family services tend to get addressed when they are highlighted in a fatality report. He wishes the government was more proactive.

Minister of Child and Youth Services, Banff-Cochrane Conservative MLA Janis Tarchuk, said in a July 27 interview she doesn’t want to speculate on what this freeze could mean to her department.

She feels with the budget shortfall it is prudent for the government to assess all positions and ministries for inefficiency.

“It makes sense to re-evaluate jobs now,” she said. “But if vacancies are critical they will be filled.”

Tarchuk said she is taking a look at her own department.

One that recently came under fire for a series of tragic incidences, including a sharp rise in homeless youth, children dying in provincial foster care and four teenagers in government care have been charged in separate murder investigations.

Tarchuk said these serious incidences will be addressed with a new review panel led by child intervention specialists who will look at the child intervention system.

Their goal is to find if the proper balances are in place to ensure accountability, if the system has the capacity to effectively respond to shifting demographics and emerging societal trends like gangs, and if the system is organized and has leading research practices.

She said the process will also involve public participation, but details will be released after the panel is finalized.

Tarchuk said the premier made it very clear there would be no tax increases this year, including the creation of a provincial sales tax.

“We can’t tax our way out of a recession, but we are taking the steps to help it grow,” she said.

“I think most constituents would agree with that.”

Knight believes this hiring freeze is only the first step. He expects to hear about program cuts in the near future.

“Services to the Alberta public are going to suffer,” said Knight.

That sentiment was echoed by United Nurses of Alberta (UNA) labour relations director David Harrigan.

He said while Alberta Health Services (AHS) is still denying the hiring freeze  —  which he said may be technically right — there is still something going on.

For example, Harrigan said the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton currently only has two job postings, and usually they have hundreds.

He said even though there are a few jobs to be had, most are for casual or part-time, which doesn’t solve the shortage of 1,500 nurses in the province.

“Why have they created a process that ensures (the system) gets worse?” said Harrigan.

He said AHS is failing to post jobs, or withdrawing them after posting.

“What happens is people work short staffed, or bring in casuals,” he said.

Harrigan said it causes overtime issues and people will look elsewhere for a permanent job.

Harrigan said it makes no sense because with all the overtime payments AHS could just hire another worker.

Also, right now all new hires must be signed off  by AHS CEO Stephen Duckett.

Harrigan said he assumes the freeze is because there is a $1 billion shortfall in this year’s AHS budget.

He said the problem is they have not heard anything on how they plan to fix it. Many assume service cuts.

“I’m worried,” he said.

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