Foothills education support workers with CUPE Local 5040 have reached a tentative agreement with the Foothills School Division (FSD).
CUPE 5040 represents around 300 staff at FSD, who had been on strike since Feb. 24.
They were one of many education support workers groups to take job action this year, with over 6,600 Alberta education support workers on strike in the last several weeks, according to CUPE Alberta.
Representatives from the union branch at FSD met on Wednesday (March 19) afternoon for a "provincial mediator-organized bargaining meeting."
"It's been a long month, standing out, missing our kids, missing our colleagues, and missing the families that we serve. We're pretty excited to take this to ratification," says CUPE 5040 president, Carla Penhalagan.
"It's been a lot of ups and downs. We've laughed, we've cried, we've done TikToks, we've danced, we've done step challenges, but more than anything, we've had a tonne of support from the community. Everyone has come out to stand up for what's right and get education funded."
The meeting came amid reports of tentative agreements being reached with workers in other districts across the province.
CUPE 5040 was the last of nine groups to reach an agreement.
"We know that this has been a challenging time for our entire learning community," reads a statement from FSD Superintendent Chris Fuzessy. "We thank you for your ongoing patience and understanding as we work to ensure safe, welcoming, respectful, and caring learning environments. Student and staff safety is, and always will be, our priority... We look forward to welcoming our support team back into our schools."
Penhalagan credits the combined efforts of the striking union branches for the recent progress.
"I think all the solidarity between the unions is what helped to push us through. We were kind of the David to the Goliath,m being the provincial government. Together we stood shoulder to shoulder and pushed with our power of 6,600 people to get something for our members."
No information on the tentative agreement has been released, as their deal will still have to be ratified.
Ratification votes are being held on Thursday and Friday.
Members will return to work on Monday, March 24, should the deal go through.
CUPE 5040 is one of four locals with tentative settlements.
Four other groups have ratified deals with their school divisions.