Many Alberta teachers say the latest contract offer from their employers and union isn’t good enough to stop them from striking.
Edmonton teacher Melissa Harmsma is among those who say they’ll vote against the contract offer. Polls open on Saturday for 51,000 educators belonging to the Alberta Teachers’ Association.
“It’s insulting to be offered … what we’ve been offered, again,” said Harmsma, referring to the proposed 12 per cent wage increase over four years.
Alberta’s public, Catholic and francophone school teachers had previously voted down that offer in May.
The consumer price index rose nearly 21 per cent in Alberta during the last six years while teacher pay rose about 3.8 per cent, Harmsma said. The latest offer doesn’t bring teachers’ spending power back to where it was a decade ago, let alone account for future inflation, she added.
CBC News obtained copies of the tentative agreement earlier this week.
The ATA is not endorsing the offer, a spokesperson said in a Thursday email, but is presenting it to teachers for their consideration.
New in this offer is a government commitment to fund 1,000 net new teachers for the next three school years.
In fact sheets sent to ATA members Thursday, copies of which were also obtained by CBC News, the ATA said the proposal would cost the provincial government $750 million over three years. It is a more expensive offer than a $405-million classroom complexity fund that teachers previously turned down, the fact sheet said.
The 3,000 teachers would be in addition to those hired due to attrition, and “in excess of the number of hires needed to cover enrolment growth” through a provincial funding formula, according to the ATA fact sheet.
The province did not confirm the figures. The parties are subject to an embargo agreement during the ratification process.
The fact sheet also said that the ATA had proposed class-size caps and a defined pupil-teacher ratio, “which were rejected out of hand by the government.”
On Wednesday, before news of the offer became public, ATA president Jason Schilling said in an interview that the proposal for 3,000 additional full-time teachers was a last resort to address crowded classrooms full of students with exceptional and diverse needs.
“If we get more teachers in the system, then hopefully that would address the hotspots within the province, because we know it’s not going to be enough to address all of our needs,” Schilling said.
The offer also includes a government promise to fund 1,500 additional educational assistant positions across Alberta by August 2028.
In a Wednesday news release, Finance Minister Nate Horner said the tentative agreement is strong on classroom investment. “If ratified, this deal will form the basis for labour stability in the province and will be a positive path forward for a successful school year for our kids,” his statement said.
In Red Deer, junior high teacher Stephen Merredew says growing class sizes are the result of a provincial school funding formula that does not keep pace with substantial enrolment growth, plus a delay in building new schools.
The government stopped recording class size data in 2019. Teachers have relied on anecdotes to illustrate the worsening conditions.
Merredew said he expects schools in the Edmonton and Calgary regions would likely get most of the new teachers, given population growth in those areas. Schools in rural areas or smaller cities might not see anything, he added.
He called it “a little bit ridiculous” that contract negotiations are also dealing with adequate numbers of teachers and educational assistants in the province.
Merredew, who wanted class-size caps in the contract, said he plans to vote against the offer.
“I’m inclined to hold out until there is something in contractual writing that will improve classroom learning conditions on a tangible level,” he said.
The teacher who until last week had chaired the ATA’s central table bargaining committee also says he’ll reject the offer.
Grande Prairie teacher Peter MacKay, a former ATA vice-president, said he quit as bargaining committee chair because he felt left out of communication and decisions by the association. The ATA said it had to make some decisions on short timelines.
MacKay said teachers’ mood is “awful” after seeing the offer. On Thursday, he said he hadn’t yet heard from anyone who supports the offer, although he’ expects some will.
He said chronic government underfunding for education has had a “devastating” effect on working conditions, while teachers’ mostly static pay levels caused morale to plummet when the cost of living escalated.
On top of that, he said, educators are infuriated by new government policies ranging from requirements to notify parents about students’ name and pronoun changes to policing which students can play on girls’ sports teams.
“They couldn’t have provoked teachers more if they tried,” MacKay said.
The government is also moving to create a fast-track teacher training program for people with specialized knowledge and skills.
“I would describe teachers not as angry, but in a state of rage,” said MacKay, who has been teaching for 18 years. “I’ve never seen teachers as angry as they are today.”
But, MacKay notes, teachers will also have to consider their personal finances when they vote.
Striking teachers would forego their pay of about $480 a day, according to another ATA fact sheet obtained by CBC. The teachers will not get strike pay, and time spent on strike will affect their pensionable income, the fact sheet says.
The fact sheet says the union can pay the cost of teachers’ benefits during job action from a $25-million emergency fund, but for a limited time.
Larry Booi was ATA president from 1999 to 2003 and led a teachers strike in 2002. He said teachers are likely frustrated by being asked to consider a offer similar to one they’d already refused, and angry with the association for bringing it to them.
Teachers may feel they have nothing to lose by turning this offer down, Booi said.
“[They’re saying] ‘I might as well take a really determined stand now because really it’s our last chance to turn this thing around.’ That’s what I’ve been hearing. And from far too many teachers,” Booi said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
The ATA has said teachers will go on strike Oct. 6 if the parties don’t reach a deal.
A third ATA fact sheet about how a strike would work, sent to members Thursday and obtained by CBC News, said a provincewide walkout by teachers would be an Alberta first.
“The magnitude of this strike would be unprecedented, in both the education sector and provincial labour history,” the sheet says. “In deciding to proceed immediately to a full strike, [the ATA] is attempting to exert the maximum pressure possible on the government to settle and bring about a quick end to the labour action, while limiting the uncertainty and disruption caused to Alberta students and their families.”
The fact sheet says the parties can bargain during a strike. They could also agree to binding arbitration, or the government could order teachers back to work and impose an arbitrator or a settlement.
Booi said the government could also delay a strike by sending the parties to a dispute inquiry board.
“The success of a strike will depend on member solidarity and commitment and the active support of Albertans whose pressure on the government to settle will be essential,” the union fact sheet says.
ATA members begin voting online on the deal at 8 a.m. Saturday, and voting ends at 5 p.m. Monday. The association is expected to announce the result at approximately 6:15 p.m. Monday.
