Foothills students will return from a February break to find some significant staffing changes.
CUPE Local 5040, representing 300 Foothills School Division (FSD) education support staff, has issued 72-hour strike notice to the employer, with the strike slated to begin on Monday, Feb. 24. FSD has indicated that the strike will begin at 6 a.m., while the union stated the strike will start at 8 a.m.
Non-teacher career and technology instructors, data facilitators, educational assistants, learning commons facilitators, office administrators, secretaries and youth development coaches are among the FSD staff that will take part in the strike.
While the strike will not result in schools being closed or any school bus disruptions, there may be a noticeable impact felt due to fewer staff, including special needs students being asked to learn from home and the potential cancellation of field trips.
"We have assessed the needs and have created plans to best support students and provide continuity of learning. Accordingly, individual students requiring additional support may learn from home during the strike," wrote FSD superintendent Chris Fuzessy in a letter to the school district's learning community on Feb. 20.
"All employees are important to the education system, and it is through our collaboration that we explore, develop, and celebrate student learning," he continued. "We are committed to meeting with the CUPE Local 5040 negotiating team to continue bargaining and to come to an equitable resolution within provincial parameters."
Eighty-two per cent of CUPE Local 5040 members voted in favour of a strike earlier this month, voting to potentially join 4,000 education support workers already on strike in Edmonton and Fort McMurray.
The Foothills staff are among thousands that voted in favour of job action, including Local 40 (Calgary Board of Education. 800 custodial and maintenance employees), Local 520 (Calgary Catholic School Division, 350 custodial and maintenance employees), Local 3484 (Black Gold School Division, 500 secretarial, librarians and EAs) and Local 5543 (Parkland School Division, 400 EAs and support staff employees). With the exception of Local 5040, the strike vote by all groups was over 90 per cent.
Custodial and maintenance workers at the Calgary Board of Education and the Calgary Catholic School District served 72-hour strike notice on Feb. 19, and Parkland School Division support staff undertook work-to-rule job action on Feb. 18.
According to CUPE Alberta president Rory Gill, the strong strike mandate from these groups signals that the Alberta government needs to improve education funding in the upcoming budget, set to be released on Feb. 27.
“We’ve been telling the government that if they don’t address the funding problems in our classrooms, the strikes will expand,” said Gill in a statement. “They did not address the funding problems, and now the strikes will expand."
This is a developing story. More details will be provided as they become available.
