AFL pushes for safer night-shift worker rules after Edmonton violence

Following the horrific and violent worker deaths in Edmonton overnight, the Alberta Federation of Labour is pushing the provincial government to do more to protect night-shift workers at gas stations and convenience stores.

There were two shootings in the city early Friday morning at Mac’s stores, killing two workers.

Three people were arrested after police spotted them in a stolen vehicle outside a third Mac’s store and one of the suspects is a 13-year-old boy.

AFL President Gil McGowan said Alberta should follow other provinces like British Columbia, where employers are required to have at least two employees on duty and if there can only be one, they should be in locked areas behind barriers.

Currently, there are regulations including employers providing safety training and some sort of communication device, but McGowan said those aren’t enough.

“That’s a pretty low bar and we don’t even know if employers are doing even that,” McGowan said. “In the case of the two murders last night, having a cell phone in your pocket wouldn’t have helped prevent these tragedies.”

“Ever since these measures were introduced in British Columbia about 10 years ago, the numbers of robberies have gone down dramatically and fatalities like the two that we saw in Edmonton last night, they’ve almost entirely disappeared.”

Below is a list of some employees killed while working alone:

June 2015: Maryam Rashidi, 35, died after she was run over while trying to stop a driver from not paying at a Calgary gas station. The Iranian immigrant had taken the job a few weeks earlier when she was laid off from her engineering position. Joshua Cody Mitchell is charged with second-degree murder and theft of $113 in gas.

June 2011: Jimmy Wiebe, 50, was shot in the head during a robbery at the Yorkton, Sask., gas station where he was working at night. It was his last week at the station before the store transferred to new management. Kyle Furness was convicted of second-degree murder. Court heard he was motivated by a morphine addiction

January 2006: Brigitte Serre, 17, was beaten and stabbed 72 times while working her first overnight shift at a service station in Montreal. Sebastien Simon was sentenced to life in prison with no parole for 25 years for first-degree murder and armed robbery. He and Serre had worked together, but he was fired when she told the boss Simon was trying to steal money and split it with her. Co-accused Tommy Gagne was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for 10 years.

March 2005: Grant de Patie, 24, was working solo at a Maple Ridge, B.C., gas station when he tried to stop a 16-year-old driver in a stolen car from taking off with $12.30 worth of fuel. De Patie became caught on the car and was dragged almost eight kilometres. Darnell Pratt pleaded guilty to manslaughter and his nine-year adult sentence was reduced to seven years on appeal.

May 2001: Yancy Meyer, 19, was working at an all-night Needs convenience store in Antigonish, N.S., when he was stabbed to death during a botched robbery. Travis Alexander MacLeod pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and is serving a life sentence.

February 2000: Tara McDonald, 25, was working alone at night in a Subway sandwich shop in Calgary when she was bludgeoned to death. The cash register, containing less than $50, was stolen. Trevor Curtis Stang, a career criminal who was out on bail at the time of the murder, is serving a life sentence.