A majority of Albertans side with striking education workers, and the government appears to be losing ground with UCP supporters as job actions ramp up, a new poll suggests.
Educational assistants and support workers have been on strike in Sturgeon County, Fort McMurray, and the Edmonton region since January, and workers from five more school districts voted to take job action this week.
Better wages and working conditions have been the primary demands at the bargaining table, and on these issues, Albertans empathize with the workers walking the picket line, according to a survey of 1,002 Albertans conducted by Environics Research for the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE).
Seventy-four per cent of Albertans said they think education workers are underpaid and deserve wage increases. Slightly more said if wages stay where they are, “we won’t be able to attract or retain the people we need in our understaffed education system.”
Respondents who identified as UCP supporters were less likely to agree, but 61 per cent said wage increases were in order and 67 per cent agreed current wages would hurt attraction and retention.
If forced to pick a side between the government of Alberta and education workers, 53 per cent of UCP supporters said they would rather back the workers.
Though the negotiations are between the unions and school divisions, the province, as the funder of the school divisions, imposes limits on what the school boards are allowed to offer at the bargaining table.
Support for the province’s wage directives peaked at 37 per cent among UCP supporters, and 27 per cent among the general public.
CUPE Local 4625 president Kelly Salisbury said the response from communities in Sturgeon County mirrors the survey results.
“In my household alone, my husband is a UCP supporter. And he is 100 per cent supports what we're doing, and he'll do runs for us, help us with the hand warmers and things like that,” Salisbury said.
“And his whole group of people are all the same. They've written their MLAs and the UCP government say, ‘Hey, why aren’t you out there supporting these people?’”
Salisbury said she thinks the common denominator behind the bi-partisan support for education workers in the province is concern for the children.
For her members, wage increases would mean not having to work second or third jobs to make ends meet, allowing them to focus solely on their classrooms. And for parents, it’s easy enough to make the connection between a better working environment, consistent staffing, and positive outcomes for their kids.
“Everybody is starting to see that this is going to benefit the community as a whole. It's going to benefit the children. And it's time to start investing in our future, which is the children at schools,” Salisbury said.
The union representing educational assistants and support workers are back at the bargaining table with the Sturgeon Public School Division as of Feb. 13.
