‘This strike will spread’: CUPE expects more job action if agreement not reached

CUPE spokesperson Lou Arab discusses the education support staff strike with Alberta Primetime host Michael Higgins.

Lou Arab, CUPE Spokesperson, speaks with Alberta Primetime host Michael Higgins about the ongoing education support staff strike.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Michael Higgins: What drove the decision to walk out? Why are your members striking?

Lou Arab: I just want to say that it’s not just Edmonton Public. There are people striking in Fort McMurray, at both the Public and Catholic Boards there, and at Sturgeon County Public Schools.

The reason, and it’s a problem across the province, is that the average educational support worker hasn’t had a wage increase in about 10 years, a period of 30 per cent inflation, and that’s because provincial government has not funded education properly.

Alberta is the lowest funding for education in the country, and that’s trickled down to employees who work very hard for not very much money.

MH: What are you asking for?

LA: We want the government to step in and acknowledge that these workers have not had wages that have kept up with inflation and take the boots off the school districts. The provincial government mandates wage increases at school districts, and they aren’t coming through with enough to make up for 10 years of zeros.

So we’re asking for the government to address the problems that have been created over the last decade.

MH: How do you respond to the government saying that both a dispute inquiries board and an independent mediator have recommended pay increases up to three and a quarter percent, and CUPE is being misleading, having accepted similar offers for thousands of other support workers?

LA: We’re not being misleading. There have been some smaller groups, certainly not thousands, who have different circumstances. But every bargaining table is a little bit different, and a group of employees that makes an average of $34,500 to care for kids and to promote learning, they’re at their last straw.

You just played a clip from a support worker who said that she was working two jobs. It’s very, very common. Food Bank usage is very high amongst this group of employees, and they can’t afford to just settle for that amount.

I would also point out that school boards can’t hire at the wages that are being offered right now. The Edmonton Public School Board has a 10 per cent vacancy rate among school support positions. If our members don’t act now, that’s only going to get worse.

They’re doing this because classroom conditions are suffering, and we want those conditions to get better.

MH: Maybe speak to the role of educational support workers. Why are they so important to the classroom dynamic?

LA: Well, there’s different classifications. We represent both educational assistants and other support workers. At Edmonton Public, it’s also administrative staff, and there’s even a couple of nurses and cafeteria workers.

It’s important because schools can’t function without educational support workers. Special needs students in particular depend on educational assistants in their classrooms so that they can learn at the same level as the other children, and so that the teacher has the time to dedicate to all students in the class.

Without the educational support workers, the schools just don’t operate, they don’t run. They’re critical to learning, and any teacher will tell you that. I believe most parents will tell you that as well.

MH: Where do talks stand? What’s transpired since the start of the strike?

LA: Not a lot. The government has been doing some name calling, but they haven’t been doing what they need to do. They need to come to the table with a serious effort to fix the underfunding problems that they’ve created.

I can tell you that if they the government doesn’t come to the table, this strike will spread. There will be strikes in other parts of Alberta before the end of the school year. Because the situation is not limited to Edmonton, it’s all across the province.

MH: If the strike does linger, and it expands and continues for any length of time, any thoughts for how this impacts student learning?

LA: I don’t blame parents for being frustrated. I’m a parent too, I understand firsthand how frustrating it is, but we’ve been heartened by parental support, and that’s because a lot of parents support the work that these support workers do.

They know how critical support workers are to learning, they know that there’s a problem in the classrooms right now, that the provincial funding has not kept up, and that’s causing a lack of resources in the classroom.

So we really believe it when we say that the working conditions are learning conditions, and the best way to achieve a good education system is to have happy, healthy, well paid support staff, which we do not have right now in Alberta.

MH: What message are you sending to employers, the school divisions and maybe the provincial government itself? What’s going to get this finished?

LA: Our message is to the provincial government. First and foremost, step up, fix the problems in the classroom before this strike spreads.