Hundreds rally to support Fort McMurray education workers, school support staff

Article content

Hundreds of people rallied in Fort McMurray for an “Education Day of Action” as school staff, parents and allies in other labour groups protested crowded classrooms, understaffed schools, and low wages among educational assistants and school support staff.

Article content

Speakers and protesters at the Fort McMurray rally were also angry the Alberta government stopped staff from striking on Sept. 17. They now have until Oct. 17 to reach a deal, or a strike will begin with 72-hour notice. No one at the rally had confidence a deal will be reached.

“The labour movement has been put on notice. If this government can take away our Constitutionally-protected right of pulling our labour and can do that to education workers, they can do it to any union. All unions right now are standing in solidarity,” said Omer Hussein, president of the Wood Buffalo and District Labour Council.

Tina Thurston, an EA at Ecole McTavish, said her school has classrooms with up to 42 students. Jan Hiscock, another EA at the same school, said every parent she has spoken with has sided with the workers.

Article content

“Classrooms are very crowded and a lot of children are falling through the cracks,” said Alison Johnson, an EA at Father Beauregard School. “It’s not the fault of any teacher or EA, we’ve been doing the best we can with what we have.”

The strike would have impacted 1,065 educational assistants, librarians, administrative and maintenance staff, and custodians. The staff are represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). Leaders with both locals say 98.6 per cent of a combined 866 members voted in favour of striking.

“There’s no fiscal crisis in this province. There are multiple billions of dollars that can go to savings and wages for these workers to save the system. There’s no crisis. Solve it tomorrow. Fund education,” said Rory Gill, president of CUPE Alberta.

Article content

CUPE Local 2559 members, which represents Catholic school staff, have not received a raise since 2015 and are paid less than their public system counterparts. CUPE Local 2545, which represents public system staff, say their last wage increase was a 1.25 per cent boost in 2020.

Workers are paid hourly, so CUPE leaders argue staff are paid less than minimum wage annually after subtracting days off for teachers’ conventions, professional development, and breaks during Christmas, spring and summer.

Mayor Sandy Bowman offered his support to the protesters. Councillor Funky Banjoko also marched with protesters after briefly leaving Kiyam Community Park to walk down Franklin Avenue between Hardin and Morrison streets.

Article content

Cagney Edwards and Colleen Tatum, the moderators of the Facebook page “Don’t I Matter?,” urged parents to support the CUPE staff. The Facebook page supports the workers, and demands better funding for students and children with special needs. Many parents of children with special needs were asked to keep children home in the event of a strike.

“How can we be standing in the oilsands capital of the world and pumping out billions of dollars of profit when we have children being denied adequate education?” said Tatum.

“Schools should not be dismissing a child with a diagnosis while letting every other child attend,” said Edwards.

Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour, anticipates similar protests to be held across Alberta during the next few months. Solidarity rallies were also held in Edmonton, Calgary, Drumheller and Okotoks.

McGowan and Gill also pointed out thousands of public sector workers are beginning, or will soon start, bargaining talks with their employers.

“The province has put money on the table for school construction, but they haven’t put any new money on the table for operations, new hires or raises,” said McGowan. “This is a recipe for a system collapse.”

***

Get the news and events of Fort McMurray Wood Buffalo in your inbox every Friday morning by signing up for our newsletter.

vmcdermott@postmedia.com

Article content