CUPE members still urging Alberta to better support education support workers

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Deborah Schaan, president, CUPE Local 417, explains that while they negotiate with the school division, their contention is with the government whom they say doesn’t provide the school division enough funds to give them a raise.

Schaan says it shows how little ESWs and EAs are valued by the province.

“People choose this vocation not for the money, but because they’re passionate about helping children. They’re working two or three jobs sometimes, they’re the ones using the food bank, and they’re ultimately a drain on resources because they’re not being paid a living wage,” she says.

“Everyone knows someone who needs an EA. EAs are subjected to a lot of things when dealing with children, things that are naturally part of the challenges these kids have. Parents are appalled more and more when we talk to them about how much their EAs are making.”

Schaan says parents rely on EAs to help parent.

“They’re getting burnt out and they’re quitting,” she says. “I recently had a 14-year EA contact me to say she just couldn’t do it anymore.”

This past summer saw a one-third turnover rate among support workers, Schaan estimates. The impact of that is cyclical, she says, in that it means school divisions have to devote more resources to recruitment.

“It all comes back to the Government of Alberta and its lack of funding for our wages,” adds Schaan, who says the last time negotiations with the school division took place was in the spring.

Another piece of the purple puzzle locally is that Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools (RDCRS) has barred its workers from wearing branded purple shirts, something rdnewsNOW reported on in June. This is even though, as explained, the wage beef CUPE has is with the province.

At the time, CUPE noted that a grievance had been filed with the employer in that tête-à-tête, that being RDCRS. Schaan says the grievance is now to go before an arbitrator, and the ban is still in place.

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• Educational support staff at Red Deer Catholic barred from wearing union shirts which highlight ‘shockingly low’ pay
• Purple worn in Sylvan Lake to campaign for higher wages of educational support staff

Monday’s protest also took participants to the Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools head office, where trustees were meeting.

In a statement to rdnewsNOW, a spokesperson for the Education Minister points out that the government has increased the overall education budget by more than five per cent, including targeted funding in Budget 2023 to help hire up to 3,000 additional educational staff.

“Bargaining for Education Support Workers is a local matter between the union and individual school boards throughout the province,” the spokesperson says.

“The Minister remains committed to actively listening to the needs of school authorities and working collaboratively to find solutions that ensure Alberta students continue to have access to world-class education.”

The ministry points out that, “More than 98 per cent of Alberta Education’s budget flows directly through school authorities who have the autonomy to make decisions regarding the staffing and operation of their schools.”