EdmontonPublicSchoolBoard

The Edmonton Public School Board & Alberta Teachers Union have raised concerns with the Provincial Government's policies regarding parental rights. These concerns border on defiance and if they continue lay the groundwork for a very contentious future regarding application of these policies.

Edmonton Public Schools (EPS) supportive staff who are members of CUPE 3550 served strike notice to Edmonton Public Schools on Friday. On Tuesday EPS applied for a dispute inquiry board (DIB) which was approved by the province meaning CUPE 3550 and the board are forced back to the bargaining table. CUPE 3550 has called support staff to a public protest at the Alberta legislature today and called on other CUPE locals to stand in solidarity with supportive staff members of CUPE 3550.

It appears there is general support for CUPE 3550 support staff members, especially from parents of high need students and other union members who do not agree with government interference and overreach in the collective bargaining process. There is no doubt that a strike would have serious ramifications for students, parents, teachers, CUPE 3550 members and Edmonton Public Schools.

Years ago the city zoned about 20 parcels of land for future schools. About 15 years ago the Edmonton Public School Board considered them as unnecessary and returned them back to the city. The city designated 14 of those parcels of land for affordable housing and on Monday city council is considered rezoning seven of those green spaces to allow development of housing projects in which new homes could be occupied by 2028.

More than 4000 public school support staff are preparing to hold strike votes as early as October 17 and 20 which have been designated as potential voting days. The 3,200 school support workers in CUPE local 3550 and 950 custodians in CUPE local 474 after more than four years without current collective agreements. Support workers contemplating job action include educational assistants, library technicians and administrative assistants.

Mandy Lamoureux, president of support workers CUPE local 3550 and Barry Benoit, president of custodians CUPE local 474 both say low wages and non-monetary issues have led to this impasse. If union members vote in favour of a strike, job action could begin 72 hours after notifying the school board to withdraw some or all of their services which would create havoc in publc schools around the city. Edmonton Public Schools's communication director, Carrie Rosa, said Edmonton Public Schools is working hard to reach an agreement with the union locals.

According to Justin Brattinga, press secretary to Alberta's finance minister, CUPE negotiates directly with school boards who get funding from the Province. The province has a formula which determines how much money each school board gets. School boards in in some urban and suburban divisions say the formula fails to provide enough money to keep pace with the rapid enrolment growth they are experiencing.