CUPE Alberta President Rory Gill made the following statement today in response to Danielle Smith’s education mandate letter. CUPE represents over 10,000 school support staff across Alberta.

“Danielle Smith’s mandate letter to the Minister of Education does almost nothing to address the biggest concerns of Albertans. The UCP has already stepped away from their promise to hire almost 1,400 Educational Assistants. Now, their refusal to address stagnant wages will only make the situation worse.

The average wage for Educational Assistants in Alberta is just $27,500 per year. These dedicated workers are falling further behind every day and need an immediate, meaningful and sustained increase to their wages so they can keep working in public education. School districts are already losing staff due to underfunding and wages that fall further and further into poverty levels.

The dedicated, and vastly underpaid school workers are suffering. The people who keep our kids safe, on track, and learning need help to allow them to do what they love.

We work for Alberta kids. Danielle Smith should recognize that and work to treat our members with dignity. Kids are counting on it.”

On June 21, we acknowledge the ongoing, fierce advocacy of our Indigenous members and Indigenous people across the country. As Canada’s largest union, we acknowledge that it is more important than ever to respect the rights of Indigenous peoples to their unceded territories, as well as to preserve and protect their cultures and languages.

CUPE Alberta Division would like to recognize the life and service of our past president Dennis Mol, who unfortunately passed away on May 16, 2023.

Dennis was the President of Local 30 and CUPE Alberta from 2009 to 2011. His service to the union and its members, as well as his kindness, dedication and friendship, will be sorely missed.

Please share with us in passing on our deepest condolences to his family.

https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/edmonton-ab/dennis-mol-11296428

President of CUPE Alberta, Rory Gill, released the following statement on the results of the provincial election.

“Although we’re not where we hoped to be today, and although we believed we would have been able to find an easier way forward with an NDP government, we know we must stand united and continue to fight for what our members and Albertans deserve.

Our union and our movement worked hard to make a change in this election, and while this result hurts, it clearly shows that we can’t stop imagining and organizing for a better world.

We saw thousands of members come out yesterday across the province demanding that their concerns be taken seriously; demanding that their rights be honoured; demanding better wages and respect in their workplaces.

We know that there is a crisis in education in Alberta and we’re not going to wait for the UCP to continue to destroy it, privatize it and offer our members disrespectful sub-par wages.

We have a clear plan on how to solve the crisis in education and we are ready to come together this summer and make sure that we continue to protect education and protect our members while the UCP continues to implement its anti-worker, anti-union and anti-Alberta agenda.

Our members are united and CUPE Alberta will continue to stand up for the people we serve.

This better world is no further away this morning than it was yesterday because all of us are here and all of us are ready to build it. We will build this power every day, united in the goal of making a world where we all have worth and none of us are left behind.”

Picket lines only work when we refuse to cross them. If you encounter a @psac_afpc picket line at your workplace, don’t cross it. Contact your local union, and then contact your manager. Find a picket line near you at workerscantwait.ca. #WorkersCantWait