Thousands of school support workers off the job in Edmonton, nearby communities

Education support workers began gathering under pitch-black pre-dawn skies in Edmonton and some nearby communities as a strike got underway.

The workers, bundled in coats and scarves and gripping signs, are calling for what they term fair wages from the Edmonton Public School Board and Sturgeon Public School Division. School support workers include education assistants, cafeteria workers and administration staff.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees says some 3,000 staff are off the job in Edmonton and in the Sturgeon division, just north of the provincial capital, another 200 workers are taking rotating strike action and working to rule.

Picket lines have gone up outside three Edmonton high schools and all Sturgeon high schools.

Among the dozens outside Ross Sheppard High School in northwest Edmonton was longtime education assistant Fran Robertson, who says support for her profession has dwindled over the last nine years and she hopes the government will boost funding.

CUPE Local 3550 president Mandy Lameroux says her members haven't had a contract since 2020 and the average education support worker in Alberta earns $34,500 per year.

Finance Minister Nate Horner has accused CUPE of being misleading and says no one should expect a full-time salary for 10 months of part-time work, comments that the Opposition NDP has called insulting.

The superintendents of both divisions have said each school will be affected differently and that parents should keep in touch with their school's principal.