NDP Opposition calls on Alberta government to settle school support worker dispute
Thousands of educational assistants could walk off the job as soon as Monday
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Alberta’s official Opposition is calling on the government to settle the ongoing labour dispute with thousands of educational assistants and support staff who are set to go on strike as soon as Monday.
Unions representing 3,000 workers at the Edmonton Public School Board and 200 employees at the Sturgeon Public School Division have already issued strike notices.
On Friday, the unions said picket lines will go up Monday morning at 7:30 at all Sturgeon public schools as well as three Edmonton high schools: Ross Shepard, M.E. LaZerte, and Elder Dr. Francis Whiskeyjack.
“We are escalating our fight for better education funding, and more classroom support,” said Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) 3550 president Mandy Lamoureux. “We will have family-friendly picket lines, and we encourage parents, students and members of the public to join us.”
Edmonton Public Schools superintendent Darrel Robertson said Friday that parents should expect schools to be affected by the job action.
“You can’t take 3,000 workers out of a school division and expect that there won’t be an impact.”
Education support workers include education assistants, librarians, cafeteria workers and administration staff.
At a news conference Friday, Opposition deputy leader Rakhi Pancholi added many of the workers have not had a pay raise in over a decade.
“The UCP government’s failure to properly fund our public schools has resulted in many support staff having to work two or even three jobs, just to make ends meet,” she said, noting a majority of UCP committee members voted to give MLAs a pay raise just a day earlier.
According to CUPE, the average educational support worker in Alberta earns $34,500 per year.
A query to the office of Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides was redirected to the office of Finance Minister Nate Horner, which issued a statement from earlier in the week accusing the unions of misleading members, students, parents, and the public.
“The work of educational assistants is important, but only takes place part-time and only during the school year. No one would expect to earn a full-time salary for 10 months of part-time work,” Horner’s statement reads.
Pancholi challenged that statement, calling it “a complete insult” to the workers.
“It’s an insult to these education workers and for the important work that they do for the minister of finance to degrade their work and to suggest that those education workers are misleading, Albertans,” she said.
Horner’s statement said the strike notice was “unfortunate” and that walking off the job was not a solution.
“It is not fair to workers who will have to live on strike pay and it’s not fair to the students who will miss out on valuable learning opportunities.”
Pam Puri, the mother of a 12-year-old with special needs, appeared alongside Pancholi at Friday’s news conference and said education assistants have been vital to her daughter’s education, and that of all students.
“This is absolutely not fair for children caught in the middle.”
— With files from Cindy Tran and The Canadian Press
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