FORT McMURRAY – Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL), made the following statement in response to the job action taken by the members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) locals 2545 and 2559 in Fort McMurray:

“Workers across Alberta stand in solidarity with the members of CUPE locals 2545 and 2559. These courageous workers are taking this job action to stand up for their schools and the children they help to educate.

“Pay for Alberta’s education support workers has always been far below what they need and deserve. But it has been allowed to lag behind inflation to a disgraceful degree. Many of these workers have not had a raise for a decade. Fort McMurray’s job action is just the tip of the iceberg.

“These are the workers that our children rely on to assist them in class, supervise them at recess, and help them through tough lessons. Many members are having to take second and third jobs just to be financially able to continue this important work.

“We call on the UCP to remove the caps that have been imposed on school boards in terms of what they can offer at the bargaining table. We also call on the UCP to provide the necessary funding to cover the cost of significant wage increases for these essential workers. It’s time for the government to stop playing games and pretending that workers or school boards are the problem. The UCP is playing political games with our schools and our kids. I’m so grateful to the striking workers in Fort McMurray for standing up and saying ‘enough is enough.’”

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MEDIA CONTACT:
John Ashton
Director of Communications, AFL
Email: jashton@afl.org