St. Albert – The union representing over 200 educational support workers at Sturgeon Public School Division is announcing they will escalate job action tomorrow.

Employees at the school division walked out for two hours this morning but went back inside for the rest of the day.  As of tomorrow, all members of CUPE Local 4625 will be on strike until there is a settlement.

CUPE 4625 President Kelly Salisbury explained that the union wanted to give the school division and the provincial government one last chance to fix the educational funding problems.

“Alberta has the lowest education funding in Canada,” said Salisbury. “Educational support workers have not had a meaningful wage increase in 10 years, a period of 30% inflation.”

Salisbury said employees are forced to work multiple jobs to make ends meet. She says the poor wages make it difficult for school divisions to hire and retain staff.

“People are quitting, no one will take the jobs at these wages. Students and education are suffering,” said CUPE 4625 President Kelly Salisbury. “If we don’t take action, a bad situation for students will only get worse.”

Picket location for January 14, 2025

Sturgeon Public Schools
Frank Robinson Education Centre
9820 104 Street
Morinville, AB
8:00 am – 4:00 pm

Picket locations for January 15^th onward

Namao, HWY 37 between Sturgeon Composite High and Namao School

Morinville – 9808 – 104 Street

Bon Accord – 47^th avenue

Ochre Park – 52 Avenue up to Hwy 38

Contact:
Lou Arab, Communications Representative
larab@cupe.ca

EDMONTON – Education support workers at two school districts took job action today starting this morning.

Over 200 employees of Sturgeon public schools (members of CUPE Local 4625) will take rotating job action and work to rule.

Over 3,000 employees of Edmonton public schools (members of CUPE Local 3550) will take full strike action at all schools and other board offices.

CUPE 3550 President Mandy Lamoureux said the workers love their jobs, their students, and their schools, but have been pushed to the limit.

“Some support staff have gone ten years without a cost of living wage increase,” said Lamoureux. “Many of our members work two to three jobs to earn a living wage.”

“Alberta has the lowest funding for education of any province in Canada,” said Lamoureux.

CUPE says job postings at schools are going unfilled due to poor wages. Edmonton Public School Board has a 10% vacancy rate among support staff positions.

People are quitting, no one will take the jobs at these wages. Students and education are suffering, said CUPE 4625 President Kelly Salisbury. “If we don’t take action, a bad situation for students will only get worse.”

Contact:
Lou Arab, Communications Representative
larab@cupe.ca

EDMONTON – CUPE Locals 3550 and 4625 announced the picket line locations for job action starting on Monday, January 13, 2025.

Picket lines will go up on January 13, 2025 @ 7:30 am MST.

Local 3550 (Edmonton Public) locations:

Ross Shepard High School
13546 111 Ave NW

ME. LaZerte High School
6804 144 Ave NW

Elder Dr. Francis Whiskeyjack High School
2410 17 St NW

Local 4625 (Sturgeon Public) locations

All schools.

“We are escalating our fight for better education funding, and more classroom support,” said CUPE 3550 President Mandy Lamoureux. “We will have family-friendly picket lines, and we encourage parents, students and members of the public to join us.”

Media Contact:
Lou Arab, Communications Representative
larab@cupe.ca

CUPE will continue to escalate across the province until the UCP takes action

EDMONTON – Two groups of education support workers will serve strike notice today. The groups are both locals of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). Job action may begin as soon as next Monday.

CUPE Local 3550 represents over 3,000 educational support staff at the Edmonton Public School Board. CUPE Local 4625 represents over 200 staff of the Sturgeon Public School Division.

Over 1,000 education support workers in Fort McMurray have been on strike since November.

CUPE 3550 President Mandy Lamoureux says the action is part of CUPE’s plans to escalate job action until the Smith government addresses low wages in the sector. Lamoureux says the average educational support worker earns just $34,500 in Alberta.

“Some support staff have gone ten years without a cost-of-living wage,” said Lamoureux. “Many of our members work two to three jobs to earn a living wage.”

Lamoureux says CUPE locals across the province have been bargaining since 2020, but face ‘mandates’ from the provincial government limiting increases to less than inflation.

“The impact of the UCP policy of starvation wages on the classroom is staggering,” said Lamoureux. “People are quitting, no one will take the jobs at these wages, and students and education are suffering.”

Lamoureux noted that there are currently 261 vacancies for support positions at the Edmonton Public School Board, roughly 10% of all positions.

CUPE 4625 President Kelly Salisbury said the situation was similar in her school district.

“It was a hard decision to vote to strike,” said Salisbury. “But doing nothing will make a bad situation for students even worse in the long run. We need to take action now to protect education in Alberta.”

Lamoureux said it is unclear how school districts will react to job action. However, she noted that during a one-day protest in the fall, principals called parents of special needs students and told them not to come to class.

“We are trying to give parents as much notice as possible,” said Lamoureux. “We know we’re putting them in a tough position, but we feel we have waited long enough and we have to act for the long term benefit of the students we love so much.”

Contact: Lou Arab, Communications Representative | larab@cupe.ca

Fort McMurray school strike to expand on Tuesday

FORT MCMURRAY – Striking school support workers at Fort McMurray Public and Catholic school districts will expand their job action starting Tuesday.

The strike which began November 13, 2024, has up until now been rotating job action. As of Tuesday morning, all members of CUPE Locals 2545 and 2559 will be on strike and the strike will continue until a contract is settled.

CUPE Alberta President Rory Gill said the expansion of the job action is due to the fact the provincial government has not acted to address the poor wages of school support workers.  The average school support worker in Alberta earns just $34,500.

“The wages of these workers haven’t improved in over a decade,” said Gill. “They need a substantial increase to make up the ground lost to inflation.”

Gill warned that if the Alberta government doesn’t act soon, other workers at other school districts will follow soon.

The Fort McMurray locals want to give notice to parents and students who will be impacted by the escalated job action. Efforts were made to push the job action past the holidays.

“We understand the impact this will have on students, especially special needs students,” said Gill. “However, students are being negatively affected by high turnover of staff. A good education requires well paid, satisfied support staff.”

Press Release below was issued December 16, 2024

Specialized workers at Edmonton Public Schools join CUPE

EDMONTON – a group of 285 employees of Edmonton Public School District voted to join the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 3550.

In an Alberta Labour Board vote last week, the group of employees voted 73.4% to join the union. They will join other non-teaching employees at the district as part of CUPE.

The new CUPE members include specialized support workers in areas of diversity, including adaptive physical education, assistive technology, audiology, deaf or hard of hearing, education behaviour, English as another language, intercultural, mental health, occupational therapy, physical therapy, reading, sexual orientation and gender identity, speech-language pathology, psychology, school family liaison, social work, vision and braille.

CUPE Alberta President Rory Gill said the workers joined the union after efforts to collaborate with the employer were not solving their issues.  Gill said the workers wanted to unionize to give them a collective voice at the table regarding workplace issues.

“As part of the largest union in Canada, these workers will have all the resources and strength CUPE has to offer,” said Gill.

CUPE ALBERTA SUPPORTS NEW LAW TO KEEP WORKERS’ TIPS IN THEIR POCKETS

EDMONTON – Working Albertans should keep their tips from customers without losing some – or all – of the money to their boss, said Rory Gill, President of CUPE Alberta, speaking in support of a new law introduced in the Alberta Legislature this week.

“Thank you to Christina Gray for tabling legislation to stop businesses from being able to rip off their customers and employees. When workers receive tips, it’s to acknowledge their work, not to give the boss a bonus,” said Gill. “We’ve all seen these big tipping options on the payment screen, but it’s shocking how often the working Albertan never sees any of the money. As a customer, if you want to show respect for good service or just help a working person out, you should have confidence that they actually get the money.”

Bill 210, the Employment Standards (Protecting Workers’ Tips) Amendment Act, requires employers to pass on all tips to workers without deduction, subject to any voluntary pooling agreements made between workers. Servers and kitchen staff, for example, may choose to share pooled tips.

Six Canadian provinces already have similar legislation.

“As cash tipping becomes less and less common, it’s easy for an employer to hold onto the tip you select on the machine,” said Gill. “Albertans know that’s wrong. We need a simple law that protects workers’ tips and their right to voluntarily pool them. I strongly encourage all MLAs to support this bill and keep more money in working people’s pockets.”

Bill 210 was introduced by Alberta NDP Leader of the Opposition Christina Gray Wednesday afternoon.