Education workers and parents will be demonstrating at the Saskatchewan legislative building Wednesday afternoon, in protest against provincial budget cuts.

As part of its wide-sweeping austerity measures, the province has instructed school boards to roll back wages by 3.5%, even on workers who already have negotiated contracts. That is to be followed by three years of no wage increases.

Such a rollback would include 7,000 education support workers across the province. They are described by their union, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), as among the lowest paid public servants. According to CUPE, the average wage for its members in education is $22,000 a year. The workers include bus drivers, counsellors, education assistants, caretakers, and library technicians, to name just a few.

"With support workers, we make considerably less than teachers. And I'm not saying it's right, for anybody to receive a three and a half per cent rollback in wages. What you're going to end up doing, is you're going to freeze the economy. People are going to spend less. This is not stimulating the economy. It's actually going to be doing the opposite. " said the union's chair of the education committee, Jackie Christianson.

Christianson told Discover Weyburn the impact on education workers represent a double whammy. "So you have a budget that's less, and, all the remaining workers, never mind the fact that you are going to be working harder, because there will be less staff, you're being asked to take a three and a half per cent rollback."

The union president for Saskatchewan, Tom Graham, called the provincial move an assault on their rights to collectively bargain under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. He added that it flies in the face of current labour law. "The government is punishing the poorest workers, while ignoring the basic principles of labour relations, which is that we reach a negotiated collective agreement at the bargaining table." said Graham in a prepared news release.

The demonstration is scheduled to take place at 4:00 PM Wednesday.