Edmonton and area school workers to serve strike notice

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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 January 7, 2025

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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.”

Specialized workers at Edmonton Public Schools join CUPE

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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.

Statement from Rory Gill, CUPE Alberta President regarding Supporting Education Workers

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Sisters and brothers and friends.

Many of you have reached out to me in the last 24 hours and asked me where we’re at with our campaign to Support Education Workers in light of Local 474 ratifying an agreement.

Yesterday a vote was held for custodial workers in Edmonton Public Schools on a memorandum of agreement and it passed. There are 40 other education sector locals yet to go for this period of bargaining.

I’m really proud to tell you that tens of thousands of working Albertans are standing together and working together – right across our province.  Our education support sector is more united and coordinated than we have ever seen before. And we have the public across every community standing with us like never before. We’re seeing an unprecedented expression of solidarity – in the face of an unprecedented crisis.

We are strong and we are not backing down in this fight for a properly funded and publicly delivered school system in our province. We will increase pressure on the provincial government in whatever ways are necessary to get workers a fair raise that supports their families, so they can continue to do the important work of making it possible for all children in Alberta to have access to a quality public education. Those are the stakes for our communities – the future of our schools. That’s why we have never been so united and so determined to get a fair deal for education workers in Alberta.

Our sisters and brothers and friends in Fort McMurray are out in front, and I want them to know that thousands and thousands more education workers are close at hand to join you.

Our solidarity is our strength – and that strength is growing every day.

Remember to send people to SupportEducationWorkers.ca because our province-wide campaign is gearing up to bring the fight right to this government’s front door.

I’m inspired to see thousands of people working together with such passion – and we are going to get a better deal for education workers in Alberta – together.

Rory Gill
President, CUPE Alberta

 

 

 

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

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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.

 

 

Education workers appeal to EPSB

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Education Workers Appeal to Trustees to Call for Fair Wages

EDMONTON – Mandy Lamoureux, President of CUPE Local 3550, representing educational support workers, is making an in-person appeal for help from Edmonton Public School trustees at their board meeting today.

“The community need is clear – to secure proper funding from the provincial government,” Lamoureux said. “I’m asking you to sign an open letter with us, jointly calling on the provincial government to lift their wage caps from collective bargaining.”

Lamoureux asked all trustees and the superintendent to sign an open letter calling on Premier Danielle Smith’s government to remove the wage caps it has dictated to school division employers through the Provincial Compensation and Bargaining Office.

“These provincial wage caps harm the students, staff and families who rely on high-quality educational services, and they undermine division priorities,” Lamoureux said.

“The first division priority is to ‘build on outstanding learning opportunities for all students.’ This is impossible when 150-200 positions go unfilled every day. Hundreds of our students are losing learning opportunities as a result.”

Provincial wage caps also frustrate division priorities to “advance action towards anti-racism and reconciliation” and “promoting staff well being and mental health.”

“Your employees are struggling financially, have food insecurities, juggling multiple jobs, and facing burnout. Today I’m asking you to take action!” Lamoureux said.

Educational support workers voted overwhelmingly to strike on October 16 and provided strike notice on October 18. The provincial government interfered and imposed a Disputes Inquiry Board process, which will likely conclude in mid-December.

“I can’t stress enough how painful it is for our members to leave their jobs. We all do this work for one reason, the students. We simply can’t continue with wages that fall further and further behind while inflation rises.”

“Please help us. Please sign the letter.”

Trans Day of Remembrance

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Statement from CUPE Alberta Women’s Committee

The CUPE Alberta Women’s Committee stands with trans people, especially children. This November 20th marks the 25th anniversary of Trans Day of Remembrance. The day was proclaimed in 1999 in the United States in memory of Rita Hester, a Boston trans woman who was senselessly murdered and continues to be denied justice.

The day has since grown into an international commemoration of 2 Spirit, Trans, Non-Binary and Gender Diverse lives lost due to discrimination and hate and a celebration of their comrades’ continued resilience and resistance in this time of increasing uncertainty and governmental imposition of discriminatory legislation.

Just last month, the UCP put forward three pieces of legislation targeting trans youth. This without any consultation with the 2SLGBTQIA+ community or their care providers and despite a deluge of research, statistics and lived experience of community members, medical professionals, school workers and families warning that the harm resulting from this action is certain, irreparable and potentially lethal.

The CUPE Alberta Women’s Committee calls on the provincial government to rescind Bills 26, 27 and 29 and immediately begin making reparations to the community that has already been so devastatingly harmed by the rise in discrimination and hate.

We further call on the government to work with the Alberta 2SLGBTQIA+ community and its allies to identify methods of support and education with a view towards eradicating the inequities faced by trans people when accessing publicly funded services such as health care and education.

Provincial Wage Mandates Push Fort McMurray Education Support Workers to Strike

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Fort McMurray, Alberta

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

“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.”

Updates on picket locations and times can be found at alberta.cupe.ca.

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CUPE Alberta Responds to Continued Alberta Government Interference in Public Sector Pension Plan

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The Government of Alberta’s unilateral changes to AIMCo’s board without any consultation with public sector unions representing members in the Local Authorities Pension Plan (LAPP) and the Public Sector Pension Plan (PSPP) shows a deep disregard for the fact that pension funds belong to Alberta workers and retirees, not the government.

“This government needs to restore independent decision making for pension plans, not bring in the Minister to manage AIMCo.”

Pension security depends on the ability of unions, through a joint governance model, to make decisions about how public pension funds are managed. Changes in 2019 (Bill 22) undermined joint governance to allow provincial interference and risky political investments.

Originally the jointly-governed LAPP Corporation would have had the ability to change investment providers if they determined that was in the best interests of plan members. The Alberta government in 2019 locked them into AIMCo, however, saying that AIMCo would deliver excellent results. Now they say AIMCo is performing poorly and less efficiently. Members’ unions were never consulted on any of the changes.

“Removing the ability of pension plans to move with their feet undermines pension security,” said President of CUPE Alberta Rory Gill. “The solution for AIMCo performance is to restore the right of pension plan members to choose who administers their retirement savings, not have a government minister continue to interfere through political appointments.”

LAPP has shown that it is better equipped than politicians and AIMCo to make investment decisions. When AIMCo had significant losses in early 2020, LAPP investments did not suffer from the same losses because LAPP implemented its own downside-protection strategy – despite still being required to use AIMCo as an investment fund manager. These decisions by LAPP saved the pension fund almost $1.9 billion dollars.

“Politicians need to stop putting their politics into our pensions. Workers and retirees need their hard-earned savings to be focused on returns and reliability, not risking those savings to serve political agendas of the government of the day,” said Gill. “This government needs to restore independent decision making for pension plans, not bring in the Minister to manage AIMCo.”

Contacts

MEDIA
Jocelyn Johnson, Communications Representative
780-700-5592