Parkland school support staff to start partial job action Tuesday

Support staff at Parkland School Division will no longer work beyond compensated hours. Nav Sangha explains why.

Parkland School Division (PSD) support staff will refuse to work beyond their compensated hours or volunteer starting Tuesday amid an escalating fight for what they call fair wages.

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Their union, CUPE Local 5543, calls the move “work-to-rule” job action.

It served the division strike notice on Friday after members voted 91 per cent in favour of job action.

On Friday, after receiving the strike notice, Parkland School Division said school could continue without disruption during the work-to-rule job action, but that the division was making contingency plans for a full strike.

The parties were scheduled to return to the bargaining table on Thursday.

“It is our sincere hope that progress can be made during these negotiations,” PSD board chair Dr. Lorraine Stewart told CTV News Edmonton in a statement.

Like striking sister unions in the Edmonton area and Fort McMurray, CUPE Local 5543 says the provincial government is underfunding schools.

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About 4,000 school support workers across the province are already on strike and could be joined by another 2,000 who have voted to strike but not served strike notice yet.

When the strikes started, the government said CUPE was being misleading, given that other workers had accepted offers. More recently, it has accused national CUPE leaders of interfering in Alberta.