As many as 3,200 Edmonton public school support employees did not report to work Thursday to protest an impasse over wages.
The decision sent school principals rushing to tell some families to keep their kids home from class, and parents scrambling to find child care for some students with exceptional needs.
“It is our hope that the union considers the impact of this activity on students and families, chooses to discontinue what seems to be an illegal strike, and [goes] back to the bargaining table with their local school board and work toward a deal that is fair and reasonable,” Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides said in a statement Thursday.
In a note to parents posted on Facebook Thursday morning, Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) local 3550, which represents educational assistants, school administrative assistants, library technicians and other support workers in the public division, said its workers would be off the job despite the provincial government’s move to delay a strike.
Edmonton Public School Board (EPSB) spokesperson Carrie Rosa said in a statement that the union advised its members not to report to work Thursday. Rosa said it prompted principals to make contingency plans, which included “contacting families of students who require support staff for safety reasons, advising them that for their safety, they should stay home.”
Rosa did not answer questions about how many workers failed to show up for work or how many students were affected.
Some Edmonton families say the decision put them in an unpleasant predicament.
Karl Reid has three children in elementary school, two of whom are on the autism spectrum: Felix and Ollie, respectively, attend Grade 1 and Grade 4 at Balwin School in north Edmonton. Both boys rely on educational assistants, who are assigned to work with several children in their classrooms.
Ollie, however, doesn’t speak in sentences and needs help going to the bathroom. On Wednesday evening, the school’s principal called Reid’s wife, asking the family to keep Ollie home Thursday.
Reid questioned how he was supposed to drive three children to school and then inform Ollie he was the only one not allowed to go.
“He deserves an education the same of both of his brothers,” said Reid. “I felt it was discriminatory toward Ollie.”
He ultimately decided to send all three kids and ask teachers to help Ollie use the bathroom.
Nicki Pasieka’s husband received a similar phone call on Wednesday, asking the family not to send five-year-old Finnick to kindergarten Thursday afternoon. Finnick has Type 1 diabetes, and his teacher and educational assistant keep track of his blood sugar levels and ensure he eats a snack.
Finnick’s daycare was able to take him for the whole day, Pasieka said.
“I’ve tried my best to make him feel like a normal kid,” she said. “Having to explain to him that, ‘Yeah, your friends are going to be at school today, but you won’t be,’ is really heartbreaking.”
Health and education workers rally outside legislature
Many school support workers attended a public sector worker rally outside the Alberta legislature on Thursday, demanding wage increases to catch up with inflation.
CUPE Alberta president Rory Gill said the walkout was a one-day action to send a message to the government to stay out of negotiations between the school board and its workers.
After more than four years without a new contract, local 3550 workers voted last week 97 per cent in favour of taking job action, then gave notice they would walk off the job Thursday.
The union hasn’t disclosed its latest request for wage increases. The local president has said wages lag the inflation rate grotesquely, and that many workers are taking second and third jobs.
The government requires the school board to offer no raises for 2020-21 and 2021-22, a 1.25 per cent raise in 2022-23 and a 1.5 per cent raise in 2023-24.
Most other public sector workers who signed agreements in those years received wage increases ranging from 2.5 to three per cent, said Justin Brattinga, press secretary for Alberta’s finance minister.
“We understand that new money was offered for the upcoming years,” his statement said.
On Tuesday, EPSB superintendent Darrel Robertson said he had requested the government appoint a dispute inquiry board in another bid to reach an agreement with workers.
Within hours, the provincial government announced it had appointed that board, which prevents legal strike action for the next 30 days. The board is an entity that will meet with employees and employers and write a report suggesting a potential resolution.
The union and labour relations experts say appointing the board is a delay tactic that threatens workers’ legal right to strike. The government also diverted education support workers and two school boards in Fort McMurray to a dispute inquiry board after workers there voted in favour of a strike last month.
EPSB told parents earlier this week to brace for potential staffing challenges on Thursday, then said a strike had been averted.
At the legislature protest, Gill said the approximately 2.75-per cent per cent wage increase offered is “an insult.” It translates, he said, to about 73 cents more per hour for most EPSB support workers.
“This is the hardest thing they’ve ever done, not being there for kids,” Gill said. “If they can’t support themselves, they can’t support the kids.”
Union local president Mandy Lamoureux has previously said wages rose by about a dollar an hour in the last 12 years, during which the cost of living in Alberta jumped by 34 per cent.
Educational assistants, who frequently help children with disabilities and challenges, earn an average of $27,000 during the 10-month school year, she said.
The government’s perception of the walkout as “illegal job action” could be significant.
Following an October 2020 wildcat strike of about 2,200 health-care workers across the province, Alberta Health Services disciplined nearly 800 workers with letters of reprimand and suspensions.
The labour relations board later penalized the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees for its role in the strike, forcing it to forego the collection of $1.6 million in dues.
Further school disruptions may follow in Edmonton.
About 950 Edmonton Public Schools custodians also voted 97 per cent in favour of strike action earlier this week. School division spokesperson Rosa says the custodians in CUPE local 474 have not given the division a 72-hour strike notice.
