An opinion survey conducted by Environics Research for the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) shows a high level of support for striking education workers. The support is evident among both the general Alberta public and (perhaps surprisingly) among supporters of the governing United Conservative Party (UCP).

Over 4,000 education support workers are on strike in Fort McMurray and in the Edmonton region. Five more groups are taking steps toward going on strike soon.

Environics research surveyed 1,002 Albertans, including 421 who indicated they were current supporters of the UCP. The online survey was conducted January 9-22.

CUPE Alberta President Rory Gill says he’s not surprised by the support among UCP supporters, as he has heard from many Albertans who are shocked to learn how poorly paid education workers are.

“Premier Smith and her Ministers should pay attention,” said Gill. “Their own supporters are worried about the state of education, and the lack of resources being put into classrooms.

Gill noted that when asked to pick a side between striking workers and the UCP government, a majority (53%) of UCP supporters picked education workers, while only 28% picked their party of choice.

“The public understands that these job actions are happening because the Alberta government has not addressed the poor wages of school support workers,” said Gill.  “Albertans understand that education workers have to stand up for students and education. Parents and others are cheering them on and joining them.”

BACKGROUND:

Q: Education workers in Alberta are underpaid and deserve wage increases.

	General public (n=1,002)	UCP supporters (n=421)
AGREE	74%	61%
DISAGREE	16%	26%
UNSURE	10%	13%

 

Q: The Alberta UCP government is right to impose a wage cap that prevents school divisions from giving education workers a raise. They need to keep a lid on spending.

	General public (n=1,002)	UCP supporters (n=421)
AGREE	27%	37%
DISAGREE	61%	51%
UNSURE	13%	13%

 

Q: If wages for education workers are kept this low, we won’t be able to attract or retain the people we need in our understaffed education system.

	General public (n=1,002)	UCP supporters (n=421)
AGREE	77%	67%
DISAGREE	16%	26%
UNSURE	7%	8%

 

Q: If we keep underpaying education support workers eventually we get what we pay for and students will suffer.

	General public (n=1,002)	UCP supporters (n=421)
AGREE	78%	67%
DISAGREE	16%	27%
UNSURE	6%	6%

 

Q: Decent pay and working conditions for education workers are a key to having a higher quality education system for our kids.

	General public (n=1,002)	UCP supporters (n=421)
AGREE	81%	79%
DISAGREE	12%	19%
UNSURE	6%	6%

 

Q: If there were to be a job action by education workers in Alberta against the UCP government, whose side would you be on?

	General public (n=1,002)	UCP supporters (n=421)
Totally/mostly on the side of the education workers	68%	53%
Totally/mostly on the side of the UCP government	15%	28%
UNSURE	17%	19%

 

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.”

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.”

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.”

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.”

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.

Over 1000 education support workers in CUPE Locals 2559 and 2545 are on their second day of picketing as negotiations remain stalled by the Government of Alberta’s constrained bargaining directives to school divisions.

“Parents and students are joining us on the picket line because they know this fight is about them and the services they need.”

“The provincial government is controlling what school divisions can agree to in wages at the bargaining table and restricting education budgets, effectively squeezing the school board and putting funding shortfalls on the backs of students and the workers delivering critical education support services. It’s shameful”, said Rory Gill, President of CUPE Alberta.

The Provincial Bargaining and Compensation Office (PBCO) set up by the province is a third party at local school division bargaining tables across Alberta, mandating a strict cap on wages. This interference in free and fair collective bargaining has resulted in the members of four other CUPE locals taking similar decisive strike votes. Instead of lifting these wage mandates, the province has been intervening in the strike process by forcing locals that gave strike notice into a Disputes Inquiry Board (DIB) process. Members of Locals 2559 and 2545 in Fort McMurray voted down the recent DIB recommendations by 93% and 95.5%.

“The provincial government is hoping we will just give up and accept poverty wages so they can keep shortchanging our community”, said Lynn Fleet, President of CUPE Local 2545, “but our membership and community of parents who care about access to quality education are getting stronger by the day in this fight for fairness.”

Following these two days of picketing on November 13^th and 14^th, members of CUPE Locals 2559 and 2545 will return to work for one day, then begin rolling strikes on November 18^th.

“This can all be solved by the province deciding to stop imposing poverty wages,” said President of CUPE Local 2559 Danielle Danis. “Parents and students are joining us on the picket line because they know this fight is about them and the services they need.”