More than 4,000 Edmonton public school workers could take strike votes next week

About 4,150 Edmonton public school support workers are preparing to take strike votes after more than four years without current collective agreements.

Low wages that have stagnated in times of inflation, difficult working conditions and trouble agreeing on other concessions has created a "crisis" for school workers across the province, Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Alberta president Rory Gill said in an interview on Friday. 

"It's gone beyond a crisis toward a catastrophe," Gill said. "People can't support themselves. It's the norm to have a second job, and many people have a third and some have a fourth to make ends meet."

Workers are now in a 14-day cooling off period after formal mediation was unsuccessful. They include around 3,200 school support workers in CUPE local 3550 and about 950 custodians in CUPE local 474.

Mediation attempts concluded last week, local union presidents said. The locals will be in a position to ask the labour relations board for permission to hold strike votes next week. October 17 and 20 are earmarked as potential voting days, they said.

Should a union local vote in favour of a strike, it means they can take job action 72 hours after notifying the school board they plan to withdraw some or all of their services.

The last collective agreements expired on Aug. 31, 2020. Gill said it is extremely unusual for employees to be without an updated contract for so long, and poor for morale.

Barry Benoit, president of the custodians' union local, said workers started by asking for a $2-an-hour yearly raise for four consecutive years. They have scaled back their request to a $2-an-hour raise in each of the last two years of the contract.

If the parties are to reach an agreement, pay raises would be retroactive, and the union locals would have to begin bargaining right away for the next contract.

"It went from strange to downright weird that we could potentially come to an agreement that would expire before the ink is dry," Benoit said in an interview Friday.

Benoit said the government requires the school board to offer no raises for 2020-21 and 2021-22, a 1.25 per cent raise in 2022-23 and a 1.5 per cent raise in 2023-24.

He said the parties are also at an impasse over non-monetary issues, such as professional development and the grievance process.

In a statement Friday, Edmonton Public Schools's communication director, Carrie Rosa, said the division is still working hard to reach an agreement with the union locals.

"While we do not comment about ongoing negotiations, we remain committed to working collaboratively with both CUPE 3550 and 474 to reach an agreement," she said.