Fort McMurray school support staff strike [Video]

Roughly 1,000 school support workers have hit picket lines in Fort McMurray, and union officials say the strike could go Alberta-wide by the spring if the province doesn’t act.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees says the main sticking point is wages and that its members haven’t seen a pay increase in well over a decade. School support workers encompass staffers from custodians and administration workers to tradespeople and education assistants.

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The average school support worker in Alberta earns $34,500 per year, CUPE Alberta president Rory Gill said in an interview Tuesday. The number is closer to $27,000 for education assistants, he said.

The latest offer of a three per cent retroactive wage increase over four years isn’t good enough, he said.

“The wages have been stagnant, not moved in near on a decade in …