Support workers with public school division north of Edmonton vote 94% for strike action

Support workers with the public school division immediately north of Edmonton have voted to take strike action.

The 250 Sturgeon Public School Division education support workers in CUPE Local 4625, in a vote Friday that saw a turnout of 93 per cent, voted 94 per cent in favour of taking strike action, the local said Tuesday in a media release.

The Alberta Labour Relations Board has confirmed the results, the local said, which allows it to give 72-hour strike notice to the school division.

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Kelly Salisbury, the local's president, said in the release the main issue for members is wages, adding they've "tolerated eight years of zeroes," indicating they haven't received a raise in that time.

"Students are our absolute main priority, but an inability to pay the bills is affecting members at home, making the job unsustainable," Salisbury said.

The membership of CUPE Local 4625 includes educational assistants, cafeteria clerks, office clerks, library clerks, therapy assistants, library technicians, cafeteria technicians, accounts clerks, vocational assistants, divisional administrative assistants and licensed practical nurses.

The Sturgeon Public School Division, headquartered 35 kilometres north of Edmonton in the town of Morinville, includes 18 schools attended by about 5,200 students in communities including Bon Accord, Legal, Camilla, Namao, Gibbons and Redwater.

The vote result comes a week after the Alberta government stepped in to appoint a disputes inquiry board to mediate an agreement between the Edmonton Public School Board (EPSB) and its support workers’ local, CUPE Local 3550.

The EPSB applied to the minister of jobs, economy and trade for the inquiry board, a neutral third-party process. Since it was established before the strike started, the local isn’t allowed to strike and employers can’t lockout employees until the inquiry is concluded. 

Some EPSB support staff walked off the job Thursday in a political protest against provincial wage mandates and what they called "interference in collective bargaining."