CALGARY – After more than two years of discussions Premier Alison Redford announced on Friday that the Alberta government has reached a tentative four-year agreement with the province’s teachers.
The agreement between the Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) and the Redford government
will see the salary grid for nearly 40,000 Alberta teachers frozen for three years, followed by an increase of two per cent in 2015 and a one-time lump sum payment to be funded by government in that same year.
The ATA has recommended this agreement to its teachers, who will now be asked to vote on it.
A commitment to review teachers’ workload is the cornerstone of the agreement.
Alberta Education will conduct an internal review, as well as a third-party study, to look at how teacher workloads can be adjusted in a way that improves the educational experience of Alberta’s 600,000 students.
The development comes after a series of tense, often public negotiations between the government and the union representing the province’s teachers.
The teacher’s last collective agreement ended Aug. 31.
They walked away from talks on a province wide deal in December after the government rejected a four-year offer that included no wage increase in the first two years, one per cent in the third year and three per cent in the fourth year.
Alberta Education says teachers in the province are among the highest paid in Canada. A teacher with 10 years of experience earns an average of $92,300 a year.
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