Strike notice coming from Edmonton educational support staff today

School support staff in Edmonton is serving a strike notice on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2024. (Source: CUPE Alberta/Facebook)

School support staff, including educational assistants, will serve a 72-hour strike notice on Thursday, its union has announced.

More than 3,000 support staff from the Edmonton Public School Board (EPSB) and Sturgeon Public School Division could walk off the job as early as Monday.

The strike process began last October when CUPE 3550 and Edmonton Public Schools negotiations over better wages stalled. The wage increase offered, 2.75 per cent in the first four years of an eight-year contract, is capped by the Alberta government.

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The provincial government appointed a Disputes Inquiry Board (DIB) to help EPSB and CUPE reach an agreement.

Local president Mandy Lamoureux has called the DIB a delay tactic and said Thursday the strike action “is part of CUPE’s plans to escalate job action until the Smith government addresses low wages in the sector.”

“Some support staff have gone ten years without a cost-of-living wage,” she said, adding the average Alberta educational support worker earns $34,500.

In December, the DIB recommended the same 2.75-per-cent offer and the union rejected it again.

CTV News Edmonton has reached out to the province for comment.

Roughly 1,000 school support workers in Fort McMurray have been on strike since November.