WAINWRIGHT - There is a new element to the six-day-old strike at Buffalo Trail School Division. CUPE has launched a radio and newspaper advertising campaign aimed squarely at school trustees.
The campaign, which starts today on three local radio stations, and on Sunday in five local papers, attacks school trustees for increasing their own expenses by 13 per cent at the same time as refusing cost of living increases to union staff.
“School trustees in this district are among the highest paid in Alberta,” said CUPE Local 1606 President Margaret Templeton. “But support staff are among the lowest paid in the province. How much sense does that make?”
Templeton said that with Trustee elections coming up October 18th, voters deserve to know why there is so much chaos going on in schools.
“Parents and other voters should realize that we are asking for a fraction of what trustees gave themselves,” said Templeton. “Their priorities are all wrong.”
“And if trustees can’t bring themselves to end the strike before election day, voters need to have all the facts when they go to the polls.”
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Download the radio and newspaper ads at: www.cupealberta.ab.ca