400 Parkland School Division support workers move to full strike action Tuesday

An additional 400 educational support workers west of Edmonton have joined an ongoing strike.

Hundreds of support workers with Parkland School Division walked off the job Tuesday after being in a work-to-rule for a week.

The 400 workers are joining thousands of others who are striking in Fort McMurray, Edmonton, Leduc, Sturgeon County, Calgary and the Okotoks areas.

Work-to-rule is a form of legal job action that takes place while workers remain on the job. The tactic entails workers to do the absolute minimum work required of them, according to the Alberta Teachers' Association.

Employees don’t perform any extra work or go “above and beyond” and CUPE says this slows productivity and demonstrates the employer relies on the goodwill of employees to properly function.

Support staff walking off include educational assistants, secretaries, librarians, therapists and speech/language assistants.

Monday night, CUPE Local 5543 gave notice to the division that it would be moving from its work-to-rule campaign to a full strike Tuesday.

Vice President Chrissy Nickel says workers wanted to give the province a chance to address the issues, but we’re disappointed by their “lack of concern.”

The provincial government has argued CUPE is being misleading, given that deals have been made elsewhere in the province, and that national union leaders are interfering in Alberta.

“We understand the impact this has on students, especially students with special needs,” said Nickel in a news release Tuesday.

“However, students are being negatively affected by low wages, high turnover of staff, and vacancies in support positions. A good education requires well paid, satisfied support staff.”

In a letter to parents and guardians, Parkland School Division says schools have been actively making contingency plans to “help mitigate disruptions to students.”

Since the beginning of contract negotiations, CUPE has maintained that support workers do not receive a livable wage as a result of limited provincial funding.

Workers will be picketing Tuesday at the Parkland School Division office at 4300 43 St. in Stony Plain.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Alex Antoneshyn