Substitute teachers being used to replace support staff during strike, says union

Union members and supporters picket for better education funding, and more classroom support in Edmonton, on Monday Jan. 13, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

EDMONTON — The union representing more than 3,000 school support workers in Edmonton says their public school division is having substitute teachers replace its members in the classroom.

School support workers, which include education assistants and cafeteria workers, have been on the picket lines since Monday over a wage dispute with the Edmonton Public School Board.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees says the board is paying each teacher $230 per day, which is more than the striking members are demanding in contract talks.

Local union president Mandy Lamoureux says Alberta’s government should fund classrooms instead of telling her members to “be happy with poverty level wages” and hiring substitute teachers to do their work.

Lamoureux has said the average education support worker in Alberta makes $34,500 per year and educational assistants average $26,400 per year.

“The best way to solve the crisis in the classrooms isn’t to scramble and hire a few substitute teachers,” said Lamoureux in the statement. “The best way to solve the crisis in the classrooms is to solve the underfunding problem, the low wage problem, and the recruitment problem.”

Heather Grant, an Alberta Teachers' Association spokeswoman, did not confirm if substitutes are being used to replace striking workers, but said educators have been consistently told not to do so.

She reiterated that the association supports CUPE and educational workers.

“School divisions must bargain a fair collective agreement with their CUPE Locals so classrooms can once again be the learning environments students deserve,” she said in an email.

“We can all agree that until the public school system is properly funded by government, it is students who suffer most.”

When asked if schools were employing substitute teachers to handle the work of the striking staffers, Carrie Rosa from the Edmonton Public School Board said each school is making decisions about how to best utilize available resources.

Rosa, in an email, said, the number of supply teachers working this week is not “significantly different” from other times of the year.

“We have had to reduce the number of supply staff who are typically brought in to schools to help with things like field trip coverage, etc., to ensure we have staff to care for the students who are coming into school every day,” said Rosa in an email.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 16, 2025.

Aaron Sousa, The Canadian Press