This is Laura Walton, head spokeswoman for CUPE Ontario education workers.
She’s a hero.
Laura Walton and 55,000 education workers won a battle that will have a positive impact on workers for generations.
It’s not too much to say they saved our right to bargain and our right to strike.
We are so proud and so thankful that Laura is part of CUPE!
Doug Ford has decided to force the most underpaid Education Workers to protest for their rights to fair wages and services for our kids.
While Ford is ok with the fact that 1 in 4 of these workers rely on food banks, even while they are working, we are not.
To support the Ontario Education Workers please click the go fund me icon below to be re-directed to donate.
The Conservative government of Ontario is overriding the constitutional rights of education workers in that province.
For years, governments across Canada got in the habit of legislating an end to difficult negotiations. They would avoid discussions at the bargaining table and just pass a law imposing a contract on workers.
But over the last number of years, the courts have said enough. Courts have ruled that the Charter of Rights and Freedoms gives workers, including public sector workers, the right to belong to a union, the right to free collective bargaining, and the right to strike if they wish when their employer won’t budge.
The issues of education workers in Ontario are very similar to the issues faced by CUPE members in Alberta. In this province, school support workers have not seen a wage increase in eight years. In Alberta, an educational assistant makes an average of $27,500 per year.
Conservatives in Ontario have decided that instead of trying to come to a settlement – they will use their majority to force their will upon the lowest paid workers in the system.
It is not lost on us that if the Conservatives win in Ontario, we will see the same tactics used here in Alberta. Our wages will go even deeper below the poverty line. Even more workers will quit, and there will be even more vacancies in schools than there already are. Special needs students won’t get the care they need, schools will get dirtier and in greater states of disrepair, and good luck waiting to talk to anyone in the front office, or even getting your call directed.
School workers deserve a living wage. Students deserve the help they need. And Conservative governments deserve defeat at the polls.
We stand very much with the school workers on strike today in Ontario.
Congratulations Brittany Switzer from Morinville AB the 2022 Rick Malcolm Scholarship Winner.
On behalf of CUPE AB and Local 1099 please join us as we wish Brittany all the best in her education journey.
Phyllis Webstad Story
I went to the Mission for one school year in 1973/1974. I had just turned 6 years old. I lived with my grandmother on the Dog Creek reserve. We never had very much money, but somehow my granny managed to buy me a new outfit to go to the Mission school. I remember going to Robinson’s store and picking out a shiny orange shirt. It had string laced up in front and was so bright and exciting – just like I felt to be going to school!
When I got to the Mission, they stripped me, and took away my clothes, including the orange shirt! I never wore it again. I didn’t understand why they wouldn’t give it back to me, it was mine! The color orange has always reminded me of that and how my feelings didn’t matter, how no one cared and how I felt like I was worth nothing. All of us little children were crying, and no one cared.
I went to a treatment centre for healing when I was 27 and have been on this healing journey since then. I finally get it, that the feeling of worthlessness and insignificance, I was 13.8 years old and in grade 8 when my son Jeremy was born. Because my grandmother and mother both attended residential school for 10 years each, I never knew what a parent was supposed to be like. With the help of my aunt, Agness Jack, I was able to raise my son and have him know me as his mother.
ingrained in me from my first day at the mission, affected the way I lived my life for many years. Even now, when I know nothing could be further than the truth, I still sometimes feel that I don’t matter. Even with all the work I’ve done!
I am honored to be able to tell my story so that others may benefit and understand, and maybe other survivors will feel comfortable enough to share their stories.
Today…
Phyllis Webstad is Northern Secwpemc (Shuswap) from the Stswecem’c Xgat’tem First Nation (Canoe Creek Indian Band). She comes from mixed Secwepemc and Irish/French heritage, was born in Dog Creek, and lives in Williams Lake, BC. Today, Phyllis is married, has one son, a stepson and five grandchildren. She is the Executive Director of the Orange Shirt Society and tours the country telling her story and raising awareness about the impacts of the residential school system. She has now published two books, the “Orange Shirt Story” and “Phyllis’s Orange Shirt” for younger children.
She earned diplomas in Business Administration from the Nicola Valley Institute of Technology; and in Accounting from Thompson Rivers University. Phyllis received the 2017 TRU Distinguished Alumni Award for her unprecedented impact on local, provincial, national and international communities through the sharing of her orange shirt story.
Greetings Friends, Comrades, Sisters and Brothers,
As some of you may remember, the Alberta Ministry of Labour and Immigration promised in January that trade unions in Alberta would receive guidance from the ministry on the implementation of Bill 32. The government indicated that this information would be provided in February, but the information was actually released yesterday. CUPE Alberta Division was advised of this release by the email attached below.
CUPE Alberta Division does not believe that there is any new information in the guidance released by the ministry and we encourage all Locals to refer to the legal opinions, guidance documents and other information provided by CUPE National and the Division to inform your response to Bill 32.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the information released by the ministry, please consult your National Representative or the Bill 32 team.
Thank you all for your work for our members and the people of Alberta.
Best and in Solidarity,
Rory Gill, President
CUPE Alberta
From: Labour Relations Consultation <LabourRelationsConsultation@gov.ab.ca>
Subject: Election of Union Dues and Financial Disclosure Regulations – additional information available
Date: July 27, 2022 at 12:00:07 PM MDT
Greetings,
On July 29, 2020, the Restoring Balance in Alberta’s Workplaces Act received royal assent. The act made a number of changes to labour relations legislation including introducing the election of union dues and the provision of financial statements to union members. As noted in December 2021, the regulations for these provisions are complete.
Labour and Immigration has developed an additional resource to support the implementation of the Election of Union Dues and Financial Disclosure Regulations. This information is now available for viewing here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emUNzNwtKUI.
For additional information about the regulations, please visit: www.alberta.ca/rules-for-union-dues-election-and-financial-statements.aspx.
Sincerely,
Labour Relations Policy & Legislation Unit,
Alberta Labour and Immigration
