Educational assistants and support staff across Alberta are ready to strike
In September, more than a thousand educational assistants, librarians, custodians, maintenance and administrative staff in Fort McMurray schools voted to strike after their employers, Fort McMurray’s Catholic and public school boards, offered tiny wage increases for veteran workers and a wage cut for new hires after years of frozen wages. These workers are represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Locals 2545 and 2559.
The right to strike is protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. But the UCP government stepped in and delayed the strikes in Fort McMurray by sending the matter to a Disputes Inquiry Board.
Fort McMurray educational workers have since rejected the deal offered to them by the Disputes Inquiry Board and will strike unless the employer changes their tune.
Other public-sector unions worry that the Disputes Inquiry Board will set a precedent for the UCP government to interfere with bargaining and workers’ right to strike.
Now, more than 4,000 education workers in Edmonton are ready to strike like their union kin in Fort McMurray. CUPE Local 3550 and CUPE Local 474 held strike votes last week and over the weekend with an overwhelming majority supporting a strike. Like Fort McMurray, the main issue is wages, but burnout and fatigue are high on the list. The employer, Edmonton Public Schools, offered a paltry wage increase that won’t keep up with increases to the cost of living, which means a wage cut in real terms.
In a news release, CUPE Local 3550 president Mandy Lamoureux said, “We know our membership needs to see more, given the years of rising cost-of-living, increasing workloads, and understaffing they have been enduring. Our bargaining committee is very committed to achieving a fair deal.” This CUPE Local represents approximately 3,500 educational and administrative assistants.
In response to CUPE Local 3550’s strike vote, the UCP government yet again invoked the Disputes Inquiry Board process to delay a strike and to interfere in the bargaining process.
Another Edmonton-area CUPE local ready to strike is Local 474, which represents nearly 1,000 custodial staff in schools. Barry Benoit, president of Local 474, says, “CUPE Local 474 custodial staff are dedicated professionals who are committed to ensuring that schools are safe, healthy, and comfortable for the students, staff, parents, and community. We do much more than clean.”
Benoit went on to say, “CUPE Local 474 members feel frustrated, disappointed, and disrespected by the Division not offering fair wage proposals currently and over a number of years. Our members also feel we have not been treated fairly in terms of our benefits. Currently, our members receive lower benefits than every other staff group and employee in the Division. It’s all about fairness.”
Workers represented by CUPE Local 474 have been without a contract since August 2020 and last weekend they voted overwhelmingly to strike.
Nearly all Alberta public sector workers – nearly 250,000 of them – are bargaining this year. Workers across Alberta in universities and colleges, hospitals, and schools are seeking a fair deal from their employers. The main goal is to get wages that catch up with the cost of living, which was about 14 per cent between 2021 and 2024. The right to bargain collectively through a union, like the right to strike, is protected by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Alberta’s public sector workers have various employers, but the UCP government has its thumb on the scales and is actively interfering in the bargaining process. In 2019, the UCP government passed legislation allowing the finance minister to impose bargaining mandates on public sector employers.
As education workers are ready to strike over paltry wages, and other public sector workers are actively bargaining with their employers, it’s important to remember that the UCP government is ultimately responsible for any and all labour strife in Alberta’s public sector.
It looks as though the UCP government has set a pattern of interfering in the bargaining process by invoking the Disputes Inquiry Board process on three CUPE locals to-date, two in Fort McMurray and one in Edmonton.