Five groups of education workers vote to join strike

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Five more CUPE locals representing over 2,000 education support workers have voted to take job action.

These results are unofficial until validated by the Alberta Labour Relations Board.

The groups include:

Local 40, Calgary Board of Education (800 custodial and maintenance employees), voted 94.5% in favour of job action.

Local 520, Calgary Catholic School District (350 custodial and maintenance employees) voted 94% in favour of job action.

Local 3484, Black Gold School Division (570 EAs and support staff employees) voted 95% in favour of job action.

Local 5040, Foothills School Division (300 EAs and support staff employees) voted 82% in favour of job action.

Local 5543, Parkland School Division (400 EAs and support staff employees) voted 91% in favour of job action.

CUPE will provide school districts and the public with 72 hours notice before engaging in any job action. No such notice is being given at the moment.

CUPE Alberta President Rory Gill said the strong strike mandate from all five groups is another sign that the Alberta government has to improve education funding in next week’s budget. Alberta has the lowest per-student education funding of any province in Canada.

“We’ve been telling the government that if they don’t address the funding problems in our classrooms, the strikes will expand,” said Gill. “They did not address the funding problems, and now the strikes will expand.”

Over 4,000 education support staff have been on strike in Fort McMurray and in the Edmonton region since the beginning of January.

CUPE response to government smear

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CUPE Alberta President Rory Gill issued the following statement today in response to a news release from two ministers of the Alberta government:

“The outrageous statement posted by the Alberta government today is full of falsehoods and baseless attacks.

The UCP government that repeatedly claims it is not involved in bargaining with education support workers is very quick to comment on the matter and involving itself to an unprecedented level.

Once again, rather than step up to the plate and negotiate a solution to the classroom problems they have caused, the government chooses a smear campaign.

Local 829 in Medicine Hat was put under administration for reasons unrelated to bargaining. The former executive chose to meet with the school district after being informed they were put into administration. Therefore the deal they signed has no force or effect. However, the Administrator will pursue bargaining with that school district until further notice.

The timing of the UCP attack is to draw attention away from five strike votes happening right now, and the release of recent polling data showing UCP supporters don’t even side with the government when it comes to the strike and education issues.

Other falsehoods in the statement:

  • There is no injunction from the Alberta Labour Board preventing picketing. Rather, CUPE and the school district entered into an agreement that picketing would not delay school buses. This is a normal part of the labour board’s role in helping unions and employers reach agreements during labour disputes.
  • “Nurse Next Door” withdrew from offering services to Edmonton Public Schools after claiming they didn’t realize they would be replacing striking workers. Not due to pressure from CUPE.

Alberta has the lowest per-capita education funding in Canada. Instead of engaging in smear campaigns, the government should come to the table, and address the issues that their lack of funding has provided.”

Background:

On February 5, 2025, at 9:11 am MST, CUPE Local 829 was placed under administration by CUPE.

On Feb 5, 2025, at about 09:21 am, Local 829 President Sharon Stoltz was informed of the administration.

On Feb 5, 2025, at about 10:00 am, the former bargaining committee signed a proposed memorandum of agreement with the Medicine Hat Public School Division.

“Administration” is a process set out in Article 7.8 of the CUPE Constitution. When a local is placed under Administration, the administrator has immediate authority over the local’s affairs, and all executive members and committees are disbanded.

UCP supporters back striking education workers

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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%

 

Education workers launch new videos, $1.4 million advertising campaign

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Education workers launch new videos, $1.4 million advertising campaign

EDMONTON – Striking education support workers are taking to the airwaves with two new video ads in support of their campaign for better classroom supports. The videos, produced for the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), are part of a $1.4 million campaign the union has launched.

Over 4,000 education support workers are on strike in the Edmonton region and Fort McMurray, with over 2,000 more taking strike votes this weekend across Alberta.

CUPE Alberta President Rory Gill said the ads speak to issues any parent can identify with – classroom support.  In one video, a noisy classroom is in chaos until an Educational Assistant enters the room and calms things down. In the second video, young students talk about what they need to succeed, with one child pointing to “my Abigail,” his educational support person.

Ads direct viewers to visit www.helpstudentssucceed.ca where they can send a letter to their MLA.

“Alberta has the lowest per student education funding of any province in Canada,” said Gill. “Students are being impacted by classroom vacancies, overworked staff, and lack of resources.”

“The Alberta government has to act, and act soon, or this campaign and these strikes will expand and spread,” said Gill.

Gill said most education support staff have not had a wage increase in ten years, a period of 30% inflation. The average education support worker makes just $34,500 per year.

 

Video #1 – Education support staff help the entire classroom:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15N2JrEQ6aU

Video #2 – What do I need to succeed? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYT9jGLiq_4

 

Thousands more education workers to take strike votes this weekend

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Five groups of education support workers, represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) will participate in strike votes between Feb 9-11th.

The groups include:
Local 40, Calgary Board of Education (800 custodial and maintenance employees)
Local 520, Calgary Catholic School Division (350 custodial and maintenance employees)
Local 3484, Black Gold School Division (500 secretarial, librarians and EAs)
Local 5040, Foothills School Division (300 support staff employees)
Local 5543, Parkland School Division (400 EAs and support staff employees)

Over 4,000 education support workers in the Edmonton region and Fort McMurray are already on strike.

CUPE Alberta President Rory Gill says the votes are part of plans to escalate job action until the Alberta government addresses low wages of school support workers. Gill says the average educational support worker earns just $34,500 in Alberta. Alberta has the lowest per student funding of any province in Canada.

“Some support staff have gone ten years without a cost-of-living wage,” said Gill. “Many of our members work two to three jobs to earn a living wage.”

CUPE locals across the province have been bargaining since 2020, but face ‘mandates’ from the provincial government limiting increases to well below inflation.

“The impact of the UCP policy of starvation wages on the classroom is staggering,” said Gill. “People are quitting, no one will take the jobs at these wages, and students and education are suffering.”

Some school districts have job vacancy rates of roughly 10% of all positions, as schools cannot hire at such low wages.

“It is a hard decision to vote to strike,” said Gill. “But doing nothing will make a bad situation for students even worse in the long run. We need to act now to protect education in Alberta.”

Gill noted that a strike vote does not automatically mean job action will immediately follow, the province still has time to do the right thing and prevent these strikes from happening.

“We are trying to give parents as much notice as possible,” said Gill. “We know parents are in a tough spot, but we feel we have waited as long as we can, and we have to act for the long-term benefit of the students we love so much.”

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Contact Lou Arab, Communications Representative
larab@cupe.ca

 

 

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

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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.

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Nearly 900 more Alberta education support workers hit bargaining impasses.

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CUPE education workers with Local 3484 (Black Gold School Division) and Local 5543 (Parkland School Division) have exhausted efforts to come to an agreement with employers.

Nearly 900 education support workers with two CUPE locals have exhausted efforts to come to a fair and reasonable agreement at the bargaining table and could join the more than 4,000 other education support workers already on strike.

“Education support workers love their students, and they love their jobs but are simply finding it more and more difficult to make ends meet,” said Wendy Harman, President of Local 5543, representing over 430 education support workers at Parkland School Division.

“Our bargaining team tried to get a fair deal with the Parkland School Division, but the main sticking point is wages. Wages are so low that vacant positions go unfilled, so the employer sometimes contracts out work by using teachers as replacements,” says Harman, noting that similar issues have caused other education support workers to strike.

“These are tough jobs, but also incredibly fulfilling. The government must step up and put more funding on the table otherwise the job action we’re seeing in other parts of the province will spread.”

Additionally, nearly 500 education support workers with CUPE Local 3484 also hit a bargaining-table impasse with their employer, Black Gold School Division. Again, the main obstacle to an agreement is wages.

“The wage offer from the employer is simply too low. Many education support workers have to work multiple jobs,” says Local 3484 President Denise Jakubowski. “Alberta cost-of-living increases over the last few years means workers are financially stretched thin to the point where they can’t afford to do the important work of helping students.”

“The main issue facing education support workers in my Local is the same faced by education support workers across Alberta and that’s wages,” says Jakubowski. “The provincial government could solve this easily. Funding for Alberta students is the lowest in Canada. All it would take is a word from Premier Smith to properly fund public education and the main reason for job action would vanish.”

Both locals are committed to a collective agreement that properly funds public education and puts students first.

 

Statement Regarding the Resignation of Trisha Estabrooks, Trustee Edmonton Public Schools

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Statement on behalf of Mandy Lamoureux, President of CUPE Local 3550 with Edmonton Public Schools, and Rory Gill, President of CUPE Alberta, on the resignation of Trisha Estabrooks as Trustee with the Edmonton Public School Board:

“On behalf of education support workers with Edmonton Public Schools, I’d like to thank Trisha Estabrooks for taking a stand for public education. As the thousands of striking workers know, it takes courage to speak up and fight for public education, students, and families. Education support workers on picket lines truly appreciate people like Trisha joining them and adding their voices to call for decent wages, good working conditions, and, most of all, respect for frontline workers.

Trisha stands with education support workers in their fight for adequate public education funding from the provincial government. Alberta has the lowest education funding in Canada per student. We deserve an education system that serves every Albertan, it will take all of us, including other school board trustees, to stand up and speak out so that the government hears us.”

  • Mandy Lamoureux, President of CUPE Local 3550

 

“Trisha served as a Trustee to the Edmonton Public School Board for seven years. In that time, she tried to protect and strengthen public education, but the provincial government simply didn’t provide enough funding. The province holds the purse strings and the only way Albertans can get them to listen is by taking a stand, much in the same way Trisha has done.

I call on elected representatives of all stripes and in all roles to speak up for public education. I call on the provincial government to finally listen to people like Trisha. Otherwise, Alberta’s families will remember. They’ll remember in the next municipal elections and they’ll remember in the next provincial election.”

  • Rory Gill, President of CUPE Alberta

Substitute teachers are being used to replace support staff

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EDMONTON – While the province continues to ignore the crisis in Alberta classrooms, Edmonton Public Schools is bringing substitute teachers into classrooms to handle the extra work normally done by education support staff. Support workers are on day three of a strike at the school district.

CUPE 3550 President Mandy Lamoureux says the board is paying $230 per day per teacher, considerably more than the wage being asked for by support workers in the strike.

“While the Alberta government tells support staff to be happy with poverty level wages, there’s apparently enough money to cover extra teachers’ salaries,” said Lamouruex. “They should be talking to us about ways to solve the real, long-term problems in Alberta classrooms.”

Lamoureux said the average education support worker in Alberta makes just $34,500, with Educational Assistants averaging even less at $26,400. Support workers have not had wage increases in ten years, a period of time in which inflation was at 30%.

“The best way to solve the crisis in the classrooms isn’t to scramble and hire a few substitute teachers,” said Lamoureux. “The best way to solve the crisis in the classrooms is to solve the underfunding problem, the low wage problem, and the recruitment problem.”

Optima Living workers join CUPE

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Workers at Red Deer Independent, Assisted and Supportive Living community voted overwhelmingly to unionize.

RED DEER – Workers at Optima Living, an independent, assisted and supportive living community in Red Deer, Alberta, voted overwhelmingly to join CUPE.

“The campaign to unionize was completed very quickly and we applied to the Alberta Labour Relations Board with strong support, said Jordan Spurr, one of the inside organizers. “For too long, workers struggled to have a voice – everyone wanted a better workplace.  Too many are just getting by, working multiple jobs for low hours and low pay.  These are the people caring for our loved ones, they deserve better.”

There are approximately 65 workers at Optima Living. Nearly 90 percent of ballots cast were in favour of joining CUPE. Employer objections to the certification application were dismissed by the Labour Board in early January. These workers will join Local 417, an established CUPE local in Red Deer, and elect their bargaining committee to start negotiating their first Collective Agreement.