CUPE says thousands of Calgary education support workers vote in favour to strike

Education support workers at Calgary's two major school boards voted in favour to strike over unfair wages and funding. Jacqueline Wilson reports.

Education support workers in Calgary have voted to strike, the workers’ union said Wednesday, a move that could see them join ongoing job action in other areas of Alberta.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) said five more school divisions, including Calgary’s largest school boards, have voted to go on strike, as job action in Edmonton continues.

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Those groups include the Calgary Board of Education (CBE), Calgary Catholic School Division, Black Gold School Division, Foothills School Division and Parkland School Division.

Calgary’s unions represent more than 800 custodians, maintenance workers and other staff, CUPE said.

CUPE’s Lou Arab says all of the workers are essential to the proper operation of all schools.

“Everybody knows the school secretary runs the place. Anybody who has a child in the classroom knows the importance of an educational assistant to help the teachers especially with special needs kids,” he told CTV News Wednesday.

“We need people to talk to their MLAs and tell them that Alberta cannot have the lowest per-capita spending on education in the country. We need funding in next week’s budget to address the problems this government has created in the classrooms.”

The union will give 72-hour strike notice before joining the picket lines and adding their voices to the crowd of education support workers in Fort McMurray and Edmonton who’ve been on strike since the beginning of January.

The CBE says the results have not yet been verified by the Alberta Labour Relations Board, which means CUPE Local 40 is not in a position to go on strike.

Once those results are validated, support workers could go on strike during the week of Feb. 17.

“During any strike action, CBE will be prioritizing in-person learning,” officials wrote in an emailed statement.

“All CBE schools and buildings will remain open and classes will continue. However, a strike will have an impact on schools and operations.”

The CBE says it is bargaining in good faith and seeks to avoid strike action.

Talks are scheduled to take place Wednesday and Thursday.

Union interfering with negotiations: province

The province, in a statement Wednesday morning, said the developments are the result of the Ontario-based CUPE leadership meddling with the bargaining process between school boards and CUPE locals.

Finance Minister Nate Horner and Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides, in a statement, cited several examples of where the national leadership of the union fought with local officials over job action.

“This pattern of behaviour is disturbing and shows that education support workers who do not yet have a deal will not be permitted to vote on one, under fear of deregistration by union leaders in Ontario,” the statement reads.

“At the end of the day the antics and disturbing action taken by union leaders in Ontario is causing extremely detrimental effects to learning outcomes for Alberta students.”

They say the province and school boards have consistently shown up to the bargaining table to come up with a deal “but CUPE national leaders clearly have ulterior motives that are not in the best interests of their members or Alberta students.”

CUPE is seeking fair wages and education funding in the province’s budget, saying that Alberta has the lowest per-student funding in Canada.

The budget will be released on Feb. 27.