EDMONTON, AB — The union representing 12,000 education workers in Alberta says a new report calling for additional classroom support is stating the obvious.
“There’s nothing new in this ‘new’ roadmap. We all know we need more staff in classrooms, and the UCP needs to make it happen,” said CUPE Alberta President Raj Uppal.
“The issue of classroom complexity isn’t all that complex. We need more staff, not more reports.”
Uppal said the strike by education support staff last winter and the teachers’ strike last month were caused by UCP budget cuts.
“Alberta has had the lowest education funding levels in Canada for years,” said Uppal. “They keep promising more staff, and then they keep failing to deliver.”
Uppal says the government’s promise of 1,500 new Educational Assistants is about half of what is needed to catch up to 2019 levels.
“We all know we need more staff in classrooms, and we all knew it back in 2023 when more staff were promised. The UCP needs to make it happen.”