A group of over 400 educational support workers just west of Edmonton will serve a 72-hour strike notice today to their employer, the Parkland School Division. The employees, members of CUPE 5543, voted 91% in favour of job action this week.
CUPE 5543 President Wendy Harman said the union expects to begin ‘work to rule’ actions on Tuesday, February 18. Members will be asked to not work beyond the hours they are paid for, and not to engage in any volunteer activities at their jobs.
The workers join 4,000 striking employees in Edmonton, Sturgeon County and Fort McMurray who are already on strike.
Harman said the action is part of CUPE’s plans to escalate the strike until the Alberta government addresses low wages in the sector. The average educational support worker earns just $34,500 in Alberta.
“Many of our members work two to three jobs to earn a living wage.” said Harman.
Harman says her local faces ‘mandates’ from the provincial government limiting wage increases to less than inflation.
“The impact of the provincial policy of starvation wages on the classroom is staggering,” said Harman. “No one will take the jobs at these wages, it’s hard to replace sick employees, students and education are suffering.”
Harman noted that education funding in Alberta is lower than every other province in Canada.
“It’s a hard decision to vote to strike,” said Harman. “But doing nothing will make a bad situation in classrooms even worse. We’re taking action to protect education.”
Harman says CUPE will give parents and students as much notice as possible.
Almost 2,000 additional school support workers at four other school divisions have taken strike votes but have not yet served notice to strike.