More Alberta education workers now on strike, demanding better pay
Posted February 23, 2025 3:25 pm.
Last Updated February 24, 2025 8:56 am.
Several groups of Alberta education workers across the province hit the picket lines on Monday.
This comes after the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) said around 2,000 education workers from Foothills, Black Gold, Calgary Board of Education (CBC) and Calgary Catholic School District (CCSD) served up notices of strike action last week.
The Black Gold School Division, south of Edmonton; and Foothills School Division, south of Calgary; served their notices Thursday evening; while workers at the CBE and CCSD Calgary Catholic School Division served notices on Wednesday.
They’ll join 4,000 more workers in Edmonton, Fort McMurray, and the Sturgeon School Division who are already on strike.
The job action comes after members voted overwhelmingly in favour earlier in February.
In Calgary, CBE and CCSD workers with the CUPE 40 and 520 were at the McDougall Centre from 7-9 a.m., before going their separate ways to picket at their district head offices a couple of hours later.
In the Edmonton area, Black Gold School Division workers with the CUPE 3484 are at several locations, including Leduc Composite High School, Ecole Bellevue School, and Robina Baker Elementary School.
Lastly, CUPE 540 members with the Foothills School Division are at the Diamond Valley Oilfield High School, High River’s Highwood High School, and Okotoks’ Foothills Composite High School.
According to CUPE, the strikes come out of desperation for higher pay; the average school support worker in Alberta makes around $34,500 annually.
Henry Hernandez, president of CUPE Local 520, says most of the members work two or three jobs to make ends meet.
“People who are responsible for our children’s education deserve better,” CUPE Alberta President Rory Gill told CityNews on Friday.
He adds education workers don’t want to leave their students; however, doing nothing will only worsen the situation.
“We love the students, we love the kids, and that’s why we keep on doing our jobs,” Hernandez said.
Gill says the province has the lowest per-capita education funding in the country and “mandates” from Alberta’s government restrict the wages that school divisions can offer.
On Thursday, a provincial judge blocked an order by the education minister, that was allowing special needs kids to be kept at home because many no longer have an EA to work with them at school.
Minister Demetrios Nicolaides has until Thursday to come up with a plan that the court finds does not discriminate against students with disabilities.
His office would only say Friday he is reviewing the judge’s decision, but the province has long claimed its school funding is enough and that it’s up to school boards to sign fair deals with workers.
With files from Lauryn Heintz, Sean Amato, and Logan Stein
