Edmonton education support staff vote overwhelmingly in favour of strike action

Edmonton education support staff could be heading to the picket lines.

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On Thursday, members of CUPE Local 3550, representing Edmonton Public School Board education support staff, voted to strike.

The union posted the unofficial results on Facebook. Of the 92 per cent of members who voted, 97 per cent voted in favour of strike action. 

Those results will have to be approved by the Alberta labour board before becoming official.

Virtual voting started Wednesday morning after negotiations stalled with the school board.

The union said the wage rates being offered are not enough to address the gap arising from higher costs-of-living, higher workloads and ongoing understaffing.

"This is about sustaining quality public education," CUPE Local 3550 president Mandy Mandy Lamoureux said on Thursday. "We can't properly staff these schools with poverty wages."

On Tuesday, the union said EPSB verbally offered to extend the workers' contract but would not change its position on holding wages to the provincial government's cap of 2.75 per cent over the first four years. According to CUPE, that would equal about 70 cents over the four years.

"It's criminal that they're not being able to feed their families even though they help our families every day in school," said Wing Li with Support our Student Alberta (SOS Alberta).

Li said her organization supports the strike action, though classrooms and students will feel the pinch.

"We will see that their work is so needed," she said. "And that's the point."

"People need to understand just how unfair these workers have been treated, even though their work is so essential to the day-to-day of students." 

The Alberta NDP Shadow Minister for Education responded to the vote, saying educational support staff "deserve to be treated fairly."

"It’s time our educational support workers get a raise. A strong educational workforce is critical to properly meeting the needs of our students. All they’re asking is for reasonable pay to do their jobs successfully," Amanda Chapman said.

When education workers in Fort McMurray voted to strike in September, the province preempted action by forcing unions to Alberta's Dispute Inquiry Board – prompting accusations of violating workers' right to free collective bargaining. 

Li said she hopes not to see the same happen here.

"We really support education workers, we understand that they're using the last tool at their disposal," she said. 

An in-person strike vote for CUPE Local 474, the union representing custodial staff, started Thursday and will be completed Sunday.

CUPE Locals 3550 and 474 collectively represent more than 4,000 education support staff in Edmonton public schools.

Both Li and Chapman said the provincial government bears responsibility for the current situation, as it sets the funding model for school boards.

"It’s not acceptable that the UCP government thinks educational support workers should try to make ends meet on some of the lowest salaries in our province. They, and our kids, deserve better," Chapman said.

In a statement Thursday, an education spokesperson for the Government of Alberta said the issue is between the union and the school board, and that the province remains hopeful that the two parties can reach an agreement.