Education support workers in Parkland join province-wide strike
Posted February 25, 2025 8:54 am.
Last Updated February 25, 2025 9:16 pm.
Around 400 education support workers from the Parkland School Division joined the province-wide strike on Tuesday.
The educational support workers had been in a ‘work-to-rule’ state, meaning only working during hours they were getting paid for and not volunteering for extra school matters, since Feb. 18.
According to CUPE Local 5543 Vice President Chrissy Nickel, the educational support workers from the Parkland School Division were hoping the province would address the strike issues, but have been disappointed by their lack of concern, which is why they’ve now hit the picket lines.
“We want to apply that additional pressure to the government, but also to our school division to come back to the table to work with us to get a fair deal but also a signal to the government that it’s time to step up and fund the education properly,” said Nickle.
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They join around 6,000 other educational support workers who have been on strike in Fort McMurray, Edmonton, Leduc, Sturgeon, Calgary, and the Okotoks region.
“The purposeful underfunding of education has left classrooms without the support staff they need, directly impacting students—those with complex needs, those in mainstream classes, and those who require additional assistance to understand the curriculum,” said Nickel.
“We understand the impact this has on students, especially students with special needs,” said Nickel. “However, students are being negatively affected by low wages, high turnover of staff, and vacancies in support positions. A good education requires well paid, satisfied support staff.”
Kayli Jontz, an educational support worker says, “There’s education assistance here that are worried about paying their rent this month, let alone buying food or paying their bills. This is a huge sacrifice for them.”
For Jontz, the impact is double, both as an educational support worker and as a parent of a child who needs one. “It’s heartbreaking honestly. It’s heartbreaking.
“My own kids are falling through the cracks, my kids’ EAs are here. My own kids benefit from EAs, they don’t function well without.”
The school division said they were informed at 9:06 p.m. that CUPE Local 5543 would be ending their work-to-rule campaign and beginning the full strike.
“This move to full strike action will impact school offices, student supports, and many other day-to-day operations within PSD but all schools will remain open. Schools have been actively making contingency plans to mitigate disruptions to students. For many families, learning disruptions will be kept to a minimum. For other families, there may be a need for programming adjustments for safety reasons. Schools will be in contact directly should this be the case,” said Shauna Boyce, the Superintendent for Parkland School Division in a statement.
“In the case of schools, this means support staff like educational assistants, secretaries, librarians, therapists, and speech/language assistants will not report to work. At PSD’s Division Office, this includes some computer technicians, some members of the business/finance team, communications department and transportation office staff.”
