Fort Mac ed workers overwhelmingly support new deal

Earlier this year, I wrote an article about roughly 1,000 education support workers in Fort McMurray going on strike for a better contract.

The education workers are represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees. They’re employed with two school divisions—Fort McMurray Public School Division and Fort McMurray Roman Catholic Separate School Division—and belong to separate locals of CUPE: Local 2545 and Local 2559, respectively.

They include education assistants, administrative support workers, child care services workers, custodians, tradespeople (such as HVAC technicians), library workers, IT workers, food services workers, and so on.

Workers organized with Local 2545 represent about 450 people, and they have been waiting for over 3 years for a new contract. Their last one expired in August 2021.

Local 2559 workers, on the other hand, number about 425 people, and their most recent contract expired a year before that, in August 2020.

They went on strike in January after being tired of waiting years for a new contract. Not only that but also they were fed up with years without wage increases.

	Local 2545	Local 2559
2013	0.00%	0.00%
2014	0.00%	0.00%
2015	1.00%	2.00%
2016	0.00%	0.00%
2017	0.00%	0.00%
2018	0.00%	0.00%
2019	1.00%	0.00%
2020	1.25%	0.00%
2021	0.00%	0.00%
2022	0.00%	0.00%
2023	0.00%	0.00%

In an update published to their website last week, CUPE Alberta reported that the Fort McMurray school boards had reached a tentative deal with these workers that included a wage increase more than they originally offered.

They also claimed that the two agreements wouldn’t expire until 2028, which is interesting, given that this would mean 7- and 8-year contracts.

Two days later, CUPE Alberta reported that the workers had ratified their new collective agreements during a vote that lasted from 19:00 on the 16th until 19:00 on the 17th.

I was unable to get copies of the new agreements, but I was able to get the results of the two votes from CUPE Alberta.

	Local 2559	Local 2545
Turnout	88.8%	85.6%
Yes	72.9%	88.1%
No	27.1%	11.9%

Once the collective agreements are made public, I will be sure to do separate articles comparing them.

In related news, other education workers who had been on strike have also reached tentative contracts with the employers.

About 3,000 education support workers employed by Edmonton Public Schools had been on strike since January 13. They’re represented by CUPE Local 3550. Like the Fort McMurray workers, they reached a tentative agreement last week. They’re supposed to participate in a ratification vote today.

Workers in the Parkland School District and the Calgary Board of Education got a tentative agreement yesterday. Their ratification vote began last night and should end later today.

Finally, education support workers employed by the Calgary Catholic School District also got a tentative agreement yesterday. Their ratification vote will begin tomorrow.

CUPE Alberta also announced this morning that that 570 education support workers employed by the Black Gold School Division reached a tentative agreement. These workers have been on strike since 24 February. Voting on the agreement will being tonight.

Finally, CUPE Alberta also announced this morning that they had reached a tentative agreement on behalf of over 200 education workers employed by the Sturgeon School Division, who have been on strike since 13 January. They have been waiting for over 4 years for a new contract. Their ratification vote also begins today.