Alberta teachers have officially started the countdown clock toward an Oct. 6 provincewide strike, with the union’s head and the government accusing the other of failing students.
“Teachers’ patience has run out,” Jason Schilling, president of the Alberta Teachers’ Association, told reporters Wednesday.
He announced that if there is no deal in place by Oct. 6, the union’s 51,000 members will hit the picket lines.
“Solve this dispute or face a provincewide teacher strike, because a fair deal for teachers means stronger classrooms for kids,” he said.
The union executive has been given a strike mandate by members, but it ends Oct. 7.
The move comes more than a week after talks broke down between the union and the province, with the main issues being wages and working conditions.
Premier Danielle Smith said she’s disappointed.
“We hope that there’s a bit of time for them to return to the bargaining table,” Smith said at an unrelated news conference in Calgary. “(The union) unfortunately broke off negotiations, when I thought we were making some great progress.”
She said the province’s offer to teachers hasn’t changed, adding it’s preparing for a strike but hopes it won’t come to that.
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“Something’s got to give here,” Smith said.
Schilling said the October deadline gives parents time to prepare for a strike.
But Finance Minister Nate Horner accused the union of using the strike threat as “leverage” in its pursuit of more money.
“Announcing a strike commencing Oct. 6 before the parties have resumed negotiations only serves to increase stress among Alberta’s students and families,” Horner said in a statement.
“Alberta’s government is committed to finding a fair settlement that ensures as many resources as possible are directed to essential classroom supports.”
Horner has said the government is offering wage hikes of 12 per cent over four years, with a promise to hire some 3,000 more teachers.
He said the government is in a new kind of squeeze, facing down a deficit projected to hit $6.5 billion, and despite that, has put up a deal for teachers worth $2.3 billion.
Schilling said teachers have only seen a 5.75 per cent salary increase over the last decade and the latest offer doesn’t keep up with inflation
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But he said the dispute isn’t just about money.
“We have teachers dealing with the largest classes that they’ve ever dealt with. We have students who are learning in libraries and hallways and boot rooms,” he said.
“I don’t understand why we can’t have both good working conditions and a salary that reflects that.”
The union has long pointed to national statistics suggesting Alberta’s per-student funding is among the lowest in Canada.
Schilling also said recent controversial government policies have added to the work for teachers, including a changing ban on some school library books as well as pronoun and gender laws.
One law requires children under 16 to have parental consent to change their names or pronouns at school. The other requires female students to have their parents sign a form confirming their gender at birth before they can try out for girls’ sports teams.
“These policies have created chaos, anxiety and confusion. Our members are upset by these measures that have been added onto their plate in an already busy school year that is seeing new curriculum,” Schilling said.
“They’re far overreaching policies by government that were solving problems that weren’t necessarily issues. They could have been solved by a phone call to a school board.”
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