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Wadena: For the third consecutive day, education workers in the Wadena School Division are on the picket line. Its the seventh time in the last five weeks that the CUPE members have spent a school day on a picket line outside the school division office in Wadena.

The 80 education workers began rotating job action on April 9 to pressure the employer to drop its demands for concessions and negotiate a fair agreement.

The employer wants the school support workers to accept reduced seniority rights and job security protection.

The CUPE members are seeking a significant wage increase to bring them up to the average wage paid to unionized school workers in the province. They also want the school division to provide better benefits, as right now they have no optical or dental coverage.

The strike affects schools in Kelvington, Rose Valley, Quill Lake, Archerwill, Wadena, Lintlaw and the Lakeside Hutterite Colony.

The support workers are employed as teacher assistants, secretaries, caretakers, library assistants and other positions in the school division. Their collective agreement expired on December 31, 2000.

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For more information contact:
CUPE spokesperson Sheila Bindig at 338-7220