Custodial and maintenance workers at Calgary schools hit the picket line

February 24, 2025 Canuck

More than 1,100 custodial and maintenance workers from Calgary’s two largest school districts took to the picket line on Monday, joining existing school strikes across Alberta.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 40 and Local 520, representing employees from the Calgary Board of Education (CBE) and Calgary Catholic School District (CCSD), respectively, picketed outside the McDougall Centre and outside the head offices of both school boards.

The strike action follows the unions’ 72-hour notice on Wednesday. Around 800 CBE employees and roughly 350 CCSD employees each voted more than 94 per cent in favour of a strike earlier this month.

They were joined by more than 500 CUPE Local 3484 members from the Black Gold School Division in central Alberta and 300 Foothills School Division (FSD) workers with CUPE Local 5040 also going on strike on Monday.

CUPE Local 5040 members striking in the Foothills School Division include educational assistants, office administrators, secretaries, career and technology instructors, youth development coaches, data facilitators and learning commons facilitators.

CUPE also organized picket lines Monday in Diamond Valley, High River, Okotoks, Leduc, Beaumont, Devon, Thorsby and New Sarepta.

What a strike notice from custodial workers means for Calgary schools

5 days ago

Duration 1:49

Maintenance and custodial workers at Calgary schools could be heading to the picket lines. The union representing 1,100 Catholic and public school employees served a 72-hour strike notice on Wednesday.

The Calgary public and Catholic school boards, as well as Foothills, have said their schools will remain open during the strike.

CUPE Alberta leaders have said their members haven’t received a wage increase in years. Rory Gill, CUPE’s Alberta president, said on Monday that a thriving public education system needs decent living wages for its workers to better support students.

“These workers are tired of poverty-level wages, they are tired of disrespect and they are tired of an abysmal lack of funding in public education,” Gill said.

CUPE members represent five per cent of the CBE’s workforce. In Calgary public and Catholic schools, the unions represent cleaners, plumbers, tradespeople, facility operators, mechanics and members working on ground maintenance and snow removal.

Gill called for the province to take action, arguing it has the resources to provide schools with enough funding to end the strikes, but noting how Alberta provides among the lowest per-student education funding in the country.

“Our members are determined. Determined to save public education in this province, determined to get living wages, and determined to keep caring and educating kids,” Gill said.

CUPE has said the average school support worker in the province, which includes the custodial and maintenance staff on strike in Calgary, makes $34,500 annually.

More than 4,000 other CUPE employees have been on strike in the Edmonton region and Fort McMurray since early January. Last week, 400 members with CUPE Local 5543 began a work-to-rule job action at Parkland School Division, west of Edmonton, avoiding overtime and volunteering at work.

The CBE has outlined how the strike will affect its operations, even as its schools remain open, along with before- and after-school care.

“During strike action, CBE is prioritizing in-person learning,” the CBE’s statement read. “We are committed to supporting student learning and well-being while maintaining safe and welcoming school environments for students, staff and families.”

The CBE added it will cancel public rentals of its school spaces, as well as school council and parent society meetings.

The CCSD said it has a contingency plan to maintain safety and cleanliness in its schools, adding it will negotiate in good faith with striking workers.

Earlier this month, Treasury Board president Nate Horner and Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides accused CUPE’s national leadership of interfering in local negotiations, preventing deals from being signed. They added the province won’t be involved in negotiations because bargaining is a local matter between the unions and the school boards.

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