The UCP's propaganda machine goes after Alberta's registered nurses - 2020-02-06

The UCP's propaganda machine goes after Alberta's registered nurses February 6, 2020, David Climenhaga, rabble.ca

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The president of the Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL) called out the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) yesterday for the partisan role it plays supporting the Kenney government's contract demands in negotiations with the union that represents the province's frontline registered nurses.

Calling the CTF "a secretive anti-union lobby group," AFL president Gil McGowan ripped the supposedly non-partisan "tax watchdog" for the way it "operates openly as a part of the United Conservative Party propaganda machine, serving media the government's talking points about the nurses' current round of bargaining with Alberta Health Services while the government directs AHS bargaining behind the scenes."

But as the United Nurses of Alberta's negotiations with AHS show, when public-sector unions bargain with the government of Premier Jason Kenney, they must also be prepared to deal with handpicked "expert panels," giant multinational consulting firms, sympathetic journalists with privileged access to top officials, and publicly-paid press secretaries, "issues management" and "digital strategy" staffers all amplifying each other's talking points.

Wikipedia cite:

{{cite news | first = David | last = Climenhaga | title = The UCP's propaganda machine goes after Alberta's registered nurses | url = https://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/alberta-diary/2020/02/ucps-propaganda-machine-goes-after-albertas-registered-nurses | work = rabble.ca | date = February 6, 2020 | accessdate = February 7, 2020 }}