Limited job action will start today at Alberta’s Parkland School Division as CUPE 5543 asks their 400 members to engage in ‘work-to-rule’ activities.
CUPE 5543 President Wendy Harman said members will be asked to not work beyond the hours they are paid for and to not engage in volunteer activities.
The employees voted 91% in favour of job action last week. 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.
“This job action is happening because the Alberta government has not acted to address the poor wages of school support workers,” said Harman. “Alberta has the lowest per capita education funding in Canada.”
“It’s inexcusable to leave our members shortchanged and classrooms underfunded.”
Almost 2,000 additional school support workers at four other school divisions have taken strike votes but have not yet served notice to strike.