Edmonton area ed workers file strike notice

In a statement published on their website yesterday, the Alberta division of the Canadian Union of Public Employees announced that education workers in the Edmonton area were planning to serve strike notice later that day.

Unless the two school boards meet the demands of the workers, who have been without new contracts since August 2020, over 3,700 education support workers could be on strike come Monday.

These are non-teaching and non-management education workers with the Sturgeon School Division and the Edmonton Public School Division. They include educational assistants, library workers, nurses, clerks, administrative assistants, food workers, and various technicians.

The two school districts oversee 230 schools in the Edmonton area, including Bon Accord, Gibbons, Lancaster Park, Legal, Morinville, Redwater, and St. Albert. So a system-wide strike could affect a lot of schools.

This is on the heels of workers in the Fort McMurray area going on strike earlier this week.

According to Mandy Lamoureux, the president of CUPE Local 3550, which represents the Edmonton education workers, these workers are being underpaid, with the average worker making $34,500 a year, which is less than $17 an hour for full-time hours.

“Some support staff have gone ten years without a cost-of-living wage. Many of our members work two to three jobs to earn a living wage.”

Lamoureux claims that the UCP government is giving school boards mandates that restrict how much they can offer education support workers in bargaining. This means that increases being offered are “less than inflation”.

She also asserted that because of the UCP’s interference with contract negotiations, “people are quitting” and “no one will take jobs at these wages”, leaving “261 vacancies for support positions at the Edmonton Public School Board”.

Kelly Salisbury, the president of Local 4625, which represents education support workers in the surrounding area, claims that it was difficult choosing to strike, but things would just get worse in the long run if they didn’t.

“It was a hard decision to vote to strike. 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.”

Update (10 January 2025): In a media release sent out by email, CUPE Alberta clarified that if workers go on strike on Monday, they will strike at all locations within both school divisions, but in Edmonton there will be only a few picket locations.