Union leaders from across the province gathered on the stage at Ironworkers Local 720, surrounded by vintage photos of workers walking the girders as they erected mighty skyscrapers. They were flanked by supporters carrying placards each featuring the words “general strike.”

But each of those signs also featured a question mark at the end of those two words, a signal that a mass labour movement that would shut down private and public services across Alberta is not imminent, So, the government offices will be open, the ironworkers will still be on the job and the grocery stores’ shelves will still be stocked.

In the wake of the provincial’s government’s use of the notwithstanding clause to bring an end to the Alberta teachers’ strike, the response from the labour movement is “not yet.”

“

See Full Page