Province Must Allow Free and Fair Bargaining, Say Striking Education Workers

MORINVILLE, Alberta – Striking education support workers in Sturgeon County say the main barrier to coming to a fair agreement at the bargaining table is the provincial government.

“All along, the province has been the main obstacle, blocking our ability to settle a fair collective agreement,” says Kelly Salisbury, CUPE 4625 President. “Decent pay and working conditions for education workers are key to a high-quality education system for our kids, but the province is standing in the way with their wage mandates. We need them to stop.”

The UCP government’s bargaining mandates apply to all school divisions and include a wage cap of 2.75% over 4 years (0%, 0%, 1.5% and 1.25%) for the 2020-2024 term. Parents in Sturgeon County, and across the province, are concerned by the Alberta government’s continued hold back of public education funding that isn’t keeping up with student enrollment and interference in bargaining between school divisions and support staff.

CUPE 4625 members are holding a picket and community event on Wednesday, January 29th from 9:00am – 1:00pm at the school division office in Morinville to join with parents and supporters to send the Government of Alberta a message that it’s time to lift the unfair wage mandates causing harm to students, families, and support workers.

“When the people our kids count on at school are stretched too thin, it makes life harder for everyone,” said Courtney Loughran, the parent of a student in the Sturgeon Public School Division. “Albertans know this provincial government can afford to give education support workers a raise.”

Salisbury says CUPE 4625 members are motivated, first and foremost, by the needs of their students. “Every Alberta student has a right to quality education and the support they need. But chronic underfunding is undermining our school system, resulting in frequent staff burnout and hundreds of positions going unfilled. This makes it impossible to attract and retain the support staff schools need,” said Salisbury.

Members of CUPE 4625 and parents will be available for comment on site at the event on January 29th from 10:00am-11:00am.