EDMONTON -- CUPE and its allies are in court today fighting the privatization of EPCOR’s power generation plants.
It’s the latest legal challenge to the selloff, which was decided behind closed doors last April – and wasn’t announced until three weeks later. Now, opponents say the secrecy surrounding the deal should be its undoing.
At the closed-door meeting in April Edmonton city council, which owns the utility, voted to create a new company and sell shares on the stock exchange.
The coalition challenging the sale is CUPE 30, the Alberta Federation of Labour and CSU 52 – the union representing Edmonton’s inside workers. CUPE has been warning about the threat of privatization, ever since the utility was corporatized.
Wile opponents couldn’t stop the initial public offering in June, they are arguing the decision is illegal because it was made behind closed doors.
Alberta’s Municipal Government Act requires all city council decisions to be made in public.