Support staff at Edmonton Public Schools set to strike Monday

Support staff workers at a school board in Edmonton and another north of the city are planning to walk off the job Monday.

The unions representing the 3,000 educational support staff workers at Edmonton Public Schools and 200 staff workers at Sturgeon Public School Division served a strike notice to the provincial government Thursday.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) says the main sticking point is wages, and that its members haven’t seen a pay increase in well over a decade. CUPE Alberta says the average school support worker in the province earns $34,500 per year.

“It was a hard decision to vote to strike,” CUPE 4625 President Kelly Salisbury said in a news release Wednesday. “But doing nothing will make a bad situation for students even worse in the long run. We need to take action now to protect education in Alberta.”

The union has previously said the wage rates being offered by the Alberta government are not enough to address the gap arising from higher costs of living, higher workloads, and ongoing understaffing.

“The work of educational assistants is important, but only takes place part-time and only during the school year. No one would expect to earn a full-time salary for 10 months of part-time work.”

—Alberta Minister of Finance Nate Horner

Alberta Minister of Finance Nate Horner, in a statement, said it was “unfortunate” CUPE served the strike notice, adding the union was making statements “that require clarification.”

“Waiting for that strike notice to be served, we’ve been on tender hooks waiting for it to happen, and now that it’s happened, we can plan for this,” said Shannon Epler, who’s son requires educational assistants.

Epler has been told by her son’s school that grade 7 student William will have to stay home Monday if the strike moves forward.

“He’s not being supported like he should be,” said Epler.

“We’re not trying to inconvenience families, we’re not trying to put hardship on anyone. We are acting because we need a livable wage, and the students need the care in the classroom they deserve,” said Mandy Lamoureux, president of CUPE local 3550.

Horner says the dispute is for the last round of bargaining, and that 60-of-67 collective agreements for education support workers in Alberta have already been settled.

“CUPE accepted a 2.5 per cent to three percent wage increase for the contract that runs from 2020-2024 for thousands of its other union members doing the same work as those in Edmonton and its surrounding area,” Horner said.

“An independent Dispute Inquiries Board (DIB) and an independent mediator both recommended pay increases of between 2.75% and 3.25% for workers in these school divisions. Union leadership recommended its member reject these offers and is misleading their members and the public on their members’ wages.”

Horner said going on strike and “blaming government” is not a solution, urging the union to get back to the bargaining table.

“It is not fair to workers who will have to live on strike pay and it’s not fair to the students who will miss out on valuable learning opportunities,” he said.

In October, the Alberta government stepped in to prevent EPSB support workers from walking off the job after a strike notice was served. Workers responded by protesting at the legislature, with the union calling it a “political protest” instead of a strike.

Roughly 1,000 school support workers hit picket lines in Fort McMurray this week, with union officials warning the strike could escalate to Alberta-wide by the spring if the province doesn’t act.

School support workers encompass staffers from custodians and administration workers to tradespeople and education assistants.

Sturgeon Public School Division covers schools in St. Albert, Morinville, Redwater and more.

–With files from The Canadian Press