It’s been just over two weeks since Shaylin Loughran-Stangier has seen her classmates at Morinville Public Elementary. The Grade 2 student relies on a host of support workers to manage her epilepsy and cerebral palsy, and those workers have been on strike since Jan. 13. She’s been learning form home as a result, which hasn’t been easy for her parents.
“Our finances are down the drain at this point,” said Loughran-Stangier’s mother, Courtney Loughran, as she and her fiancé have had to take considerable time off work to home-school their child.
Strike supporters
Some 225 Sturgeon Public educational assistants and other support workers with CUPE Local 4625 have been on strike since Jan. 13.
Loughran was one of a handful of parents that joined the picket line at the Frank Robinson Education Centre in Morinville on Jan. 29 to support the strike. Some 80 purple-clad union members were there waving signs and flags and (in one case) playing the bagpipes as passing drivers honked horns in support.
CUPE Local 4625 president Kelly Salisbury said support workers wanted a living wage but were being stymied by a provincial mandate that limits school division wage increases to 2.75 per cent over four years for the 2020–2024 term. Many union members had gone 10 years without a raise and were working multiple jobs to support their families.
“We’re losing really good, qualified people because they can’t do the job anymore,” she said.
“They can’t feed their families.”
Salisbury said union members have been heartbroken these last two weeks as they missed being with their students. They’ve received plenty of support from Sturgeon County residents and businesses, though, with many offering them free food, hot drinks, and shelter.
Loughran said she sympathized with the workers because she used to be an educational assistant at Morinville Public — a job she had to leave because she couldn’t live off of its wages.
“I literally had to leave my job because I was being so underpaid,” she said.
“They deserve the raise.”
Angela Huggard said her son Adam needed support workers to attend Morinville Public due to his autism and diabetes. She has had to cut her work hours by a third to teach him at home during the strike.
“He doesn’t understand why he can’t go to school,” she said, and is regressing without his usual exposure to other students.
“He is absolutely missing the social interaction, the schedule, the routine, and enrichment I’m just not able to provide at home.”
Charles Dewhurst said he’s been helping his autistic stepson, John Eaves, learn from home during the strike. While his son loved hanging out with him, he could tell he also missed his teachers and friends at Morinville Public.
Dewhurst said this strike was overdue and the wage issues behind it should have been addressed long ago.
“I think the province doesn’t give out enough finances to education and this is the effect.”
Salisbury called on the province to lift its bargaining mandate so the union could negotiate wages with Sturgeon Public. While she hoped talks with the board would resume in a few weeks, she said the strike would continue until a deal was reached.
“We are out here until we get a livable wage.”
Sturgeon Public and Alberta Education officials did not respond to requests for comment on the strike by press deadline.
