Provincial Wage Mandates Push Fort McMurray Education Support Workers to Strike

FORT McMURRAY, Alberta--(BUSINESS WIRE)--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.

“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.”

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