EDMONTON – The union representing 16,000 Alberta hospital workers has returned to the bargaining table with the province’s health-care delivery agency ahead of a weekend deadline for members to strike.

The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees, or AUPE, says in an email that Alberta Health Services invited the union back to the table for mediation and that it is meeting with them Thursday and Friday.

Marisa Breeze, a spokeswoman for Alberta’s finance minister, confirms that the two parties are back at the table.

The AUPE gave strike notice Wednesday to AHS after bargaining fell apart over wages.

Job action is to begin at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, with pickets outside major hospitals across the province.

A statement on the AUPE website says that after it served strike notice, the health a

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