Students walk out of school to join a protest in support of pay for teachers and funding for schools at the Alberta Legislature in Edmonton on Sept. 22.AMBER BRACKEN/The Canadian Press
Alberta families are bracing for schools to shut down as early as Monday after the provincial teachers’ union overwhelmingly rejected the government’s latest contract offer.
Nearly 90 per cent of teachers who cast ballots voted to reject the province’s proposal, which included a 12-per-cent wage hike over four years. It also contained a promise from the United Conservative Party government to hire 3,000 more teachers over the next three years to help address class sizes.
Alberta’s school system has struggled to find room for a flood of new students, with about 80,000 children entering the publicly funded schools over the past three years.
The province’s already fraught relationship with teachers has also been strained by the government’s recent attempt to ban certain books in school libraries and its introduction of several measures related to transgender students. These have included a new policy to block transgender athletes from competing in amateur sports.
As of Tuesday, no negotiations were planned before a strike deadline of Oct. 6.
“All of these things are adding to a level of disrespect that my colleagues feel across the province,” said Jason Schilling, president of the teachers’ union, the Alberta Teachers’ Association.
If teachers walk off the job, it would be the first provincewide teachers strike in Alberta since 2002, when more than 20,000 educators were ordered back to work after nearly three weeks. The current dispute affects more than 50,000 teachers in the public, Catholic and francophone school systems, and a strike would affect more than 700,000 K-12 students.
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The government announced plans on Tuesday to help families with financial and learning supports should teachers walk off the job. Still, some families are worried about the disruption to their children’s learning, especially for those students who are still catching up after missing so much school as a result of the pandemic.
Mr. Schilling said teachers are seeking a pay increase that will make up for high inflation in recent years. The union also wants to see salaries sufficient to attract and retain teachers, he said.
“With the way that classrooms are now, teachers are burning out and they’re leaving the profession,” Mr. Schilling said.
The negotiations have become increasingly heated, with both sides of the dispute routinely accusing the other of lying. The union and the government each launched competing advertising campaigns in recent weeks.
Premier Danielle Smith said the government’s latest offer was more than fair.
“To say I’m disappointed is an understatement,” Ms. Smith told a news conference on Tuesday. “Negotiations with the union have been going on for many months. … What was offered to Alberta educators was very generous.”
In the event of a strike, the government plans to provide eligible parents and guardians with $150 a child per week for children aged 12 and under who are affected by school closings.
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The money will be available to parents for the duration of the strike, Finance Minister Nate Horner said.
“Alberta’s government has a strong, responsible plan to keep students learning. You can rest assured government will remain committed to support families during this time,” he said.
Parents and guardians who wish to access the funds must create an account online.
Education and Childcare Minister Demetrios Nicolaides also announced a tool kit to support students’ learning if there is a strike.
The tool kit provides a week-by-week guide for parents to follow the provincial curriculum on core subjects, including language arts, social studies, math and sciences. Mr. Nicolaides said the tool kit is not a mandatory resource.
“I’m sure many parents will find it useful,” he said. “The tool kit is only one example of ways parents can support their children’s learning during a disruption.”
Shelley Wiart, a Calgary mother of three, said the government must do more for teachers, and worries about how students will suffer if schools close.
“My youngest daughter had a lot of learning loss from the pandemic,” she said.
Her daughter is now in Grade 7, and like many of her peers she is still catching up, Ms. Wiart said.
“I feel bad, because this is now another interruption,” she said. “It’s like they’re being penalized, and it’s not that we did anything wrong. The circumstances of COVID and now a strike – our kids are suffering."
Amanda Chapman, the NDP’s education critic, said many families will be scrambling to find child care over the next few days in case there is a strike.
“The UCP has caused this situation to happen. Their choices have led us here,” she said.
Ms. Smith said there are no current plans to reconvene the legislature early to introduce back-to-work legislation.
“What we’re hoping for is that the teachers will withdraw their threat of strike and get back to the bargaining table so that we can avoid job action,” she said.