Teachers will not be returning to work next week.
The Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) has declined a request from the Alberta Government that would have seen teachers and students return to the classroom next week.
Recently, the ATA was presented with a request from the Alberta Government for teachers to return to the classroom on Monday, October 20 under a proposed “enhanced mediation” process.
Under that process, it would exclude student-teacher ratios from being part of the discussion.
“Teachers will not accept a process designed to avoid the real issues in Alberta’s classrooms,” explained the ATA president, Jason Schilling, in a media release from the ATA. “The government’s proposal is biased, protects its own political interests and fails to address what teachers, students and parents are saying every single day: class sizes are too large, and classroom complexity is unmanageable.”
On October 17, the Alberta Premier and Minister of Education hosted a media conference in regards to the declined request.
According to Premier Smith, this strike cannot continue forever.
Premier Smith adds that the enhanced mediation would of had teachers and students return to the classroom while the negotiations continued.
As part of the recent deal rejected by the ATA, teacher’s salaries would start at just under $80,000 a year.
According to Premier Smith, the most recent offer from ATA would cost Alberta taxpayers an additional $2 billion, on top of the $2.6 billion the province has already committed.
The Minister of Education, Demetrios Nicolaides, adds that as part of the enhanced mediation, there would have been a third-party mediator to help settle the strike negotiations.
During the media conference, Minister Nicolaides said the government wants the same things as the teachers.
He adds their next steps are getting kids back into classrooms.
When asked about her reaction to the ATA saying teachers will continue to strike, and why they removed classroom sizes from the negotiations, Premier Smith says the ATA is fixated on a single solution.
According to Premier Smith, if the negotiations aren’t making progress next week, expect back to work legislation.
When asked if she was surprised the ATA said no to the recent letter about the enhanced mediation, especially knowing that classroom size has been a sticking point throughout the negotiations, Premier Smith said there are other options.
If it gets to the point of introducing back to work legislation for teachers, Premier Smith says they are hoping the legislation holds up in court this time around, even though the previous order in 2002 was turned down by a judge.
The ATA stated in their media release that Alberta has the largest class sizes in Canada, yet spends the least per student, and teachers, parents, and students have been sounding the alarm for years.
“Alberta’s classrooms are overcrowded and underfunded—that is the reality. Government and school boards can no longer pretend otherwise. Teachers want to return to their students, but we must ensure that when we do, conditions will improve for teaching and learning across this province,” the ATA president, Jason Schilling added in the media release.
To read more on the ATA response, click here.
To read more on the joint statement from the Alberta government, click here.
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