CUPE Local 3550 members are set to go on strike on October 24th, but their employer, Edmonton Public School Board (EPSB), has advised they intend to make a request to the Alberta government to impose a Disputes Inquiry Board (DIB).
CUPE Alberta President Rory Gill sent a letter to Minister of Jobs, Economy and Trade Matt Jones asking the Alberta government to respect the bargaining process by removing provincial wage directives and letting the parties negotiate in good faith. Gill states in the letter, “there are no outstanding issues between EPSB and CUPE Local 3550 that could be resolved by a DIB as long as the government’s wage mandate remains in place.”
This provincial stall tactic was used recently against education support staff in Fort MacMurray to prevent members of CUPE Locals 2545 and 2559 from being able to begin their strike. The DIB resulted in no movement or alternate proposals and simply prolonged the impasse for educational support workers in Fort McMurray. “We see imposing a DIB while maintaining wage directives as an attempt to bully CUPE members into taking the government’s wage mandate,” the letter states.
Gill urged the minister not to interfere with the constitutional right to strike, stating that if the government imposes a DIB at the request of EPSB “it will be obvious that the government is acting in bad faith and has no respect for free collective bargaining.”