Lethbridge school boards working with local support staff unions
By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman - Lethbridge Herald on January 14, 2025.
LETHBRIDGE HERALDapulido@lethbridgeherald.com
After the Alberta NDP called on the UCP government to ensure school support staff received fair wages last week, local school board chairs shared their thoughts on the matter.
Both the Holy Spirit Catholic School Division and the Lethbridge School Division are aware of the situation faced by many school divisions in Alberta regarding negotiations with unions representing support staff.
Both local school divisions are currently in negotiations with each of their Canadian Union of Public Employees bargaining committee that represents school-based support staff. The Holy Spirit Catholic School Division’s support staff is represented by the CUPE Local 1825, while the Lethbridge School Division support staff is represented by CUPE Local 2843.
Carmen Mombourquette, chair of the Holy Spirit Catholic School Division board, told the Herald that CUPE 1825 has presented the board with a new collective agreement. The board has responded some items it would like to see added to it.
“Most of the non-monetary items we’ve reached agreement on, or we’ve come close and all of the monetary positions like salary increases will go forward to a mediator and our mediator is going to come in early March,” said Mombourquette.
He added that ordinarily, the board would have been reaching a settlement by talking directly with union representatives, but they were advised by CUPE to bring in a mediator.
Mombourquette said that the province is involved in negotiations in a way, in that they decide how high the school boards are allowed to go in terms of offering wage increases.
“All school boards in the province are given what is referred to as a mandate letter, that I would imagine originates with the Treasury Board of the Alberta government. And they lay out for us as far as salary increases themselves are concerned, maximums that school boards are allowed to negotiate.”
 Rakhi Pancholi, NDP deputy leader, told media on Friday that the school boards across Alberta are the lowest-funded in the country.
“Danielle Smith and the UCP government are choosing to fund education at the lowest level per student in the country, forcing school boards to rapidly drain the reserves just to keep the classroom’s lights on,” said Pancholi.
Mombourquette said that he couldn’t speak to the veracity of that, but as far as Holy Spirit is concerned, the last four years have been in a deficit position and relied heavily on reserves to make ends meet.
“We have expended all of the money recently received from the provincial government each year, plus more,” he said. “We’re hoping with the provincial budget that’s about to come across right in February that 2025 might be a year where we’re actually at a point where we can start to look at maybe make it a little bit of positive growth.”
In a statement, Christine Light, chair of the Lethbridge School Division board, said advocacy efforts with the province are ongoing, to drive home the fact that support staff serve a valuable role in the delivery of successful educational experiences for students.
“We believe the provincial government should fund divisions across Alberta to allow boards to pay our staff a living wage that reflects their essential role within the education system,” said Light. “Inclusion, without the necessary funding, leads to exclusion, impacting student support and learning.”
As negotiations continue, Light added the LSD appreciates the collaborative relationship with the CUPE 2843 bargaining committee, as both parties continue an open dialogue and work toward a new collective agreement.
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If the UCP stopped funding the private school system there should be more than enough cash for our public schools. Also, public school boards should do a serious review of their overhead spending and transfer those savings to the front line employees.