ATA: Kids will be in Alberta schools next week, despite impasse between teachers and UCP government

President of Treasury Board and Minister of Finance Nate Horner and Minister of Education and Childcare Demetrios Nicolaides stated Thursday night they are “deeply concerned and disappointed with the decision of the Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) to break off negotiations with so much at stake, and so close to a reasonable settlement.”

“We heard their bargaining concerns and carefully considered how we could best support teachers, students and their classrooms,” they added. “They have been offered what they asked for. They have been offered what they said was needed.”

They add the TEBA made an offer Aug. 26 which included the hiring of 1,000 more teachers each year for the next three years at a cost of $750 million, which they say is an exact request the union made in June this year.

“Three thousand more teachers would certainly have a significant impact in alleviating classroom pressures and improve the education landscape for teachers and students,” the ministers went on.

“A 12 per cent salary increase over four years was also offered, as well as an additional increase that would further improve the salaries of 95 per cent of their members over the next four years. This would result in greater salary increases for newer teachers to help address recruitment and retention issues.”

On Aug. 27, the ministers stated, the ATA’s bargaining team suggested a contract with fewer teachers would save money and that funding could be funnelled into even higher salaries.

Schilling said Friday the ATA never tabled anything with regards to hiring fewer teachers.

He also emphasized the ATA’s desire to improve classroom quality of life for students — where paying teachers more comes in, is that it means more attraction and retention. Over the last 10 years, he said, teachers have seen a 5.75 per cent increase.

“When half of new teachers in our profession leave with the first five years of their career, the message is clear [that] the education system in Alberta is unsustainable,” said Schilling.

“It is a move that is typical from government that they have turned around and blamed the very people who have been sounding the alarm about the state of public education in Alberta. It is hypocritical for the government to claim they value education while running a public education system that spends the least per student in all of Canada [while] simultaneously underpaying the very people who make it work.”

Schilling, saying the parties are “relatively close” on salary, clarified that teachers want their wages to make up for past inflation and keep place with current inflation.

“The union’s strategy and tactics have been exposed and called out,” the ministers’ statement added.

“We cannot sit idle while the public, parents and students are manipulated into supporting a union that has shown its primary interest is in diverting supports away from the classroom to further drive up teacher compensation.”

Schilling also pointed out “several new, complex, sensitive tasks which require time, training and emotional labour,” which teachers will see added to their plates this fall.

He was referring to sorting through library books, managing permission forms for sensitive content, and navigating new protocols around gender identity. That’s on top of implementing new curriculum.

“The workload has increased, the expectations have grown, class sizes continue to soar, and the pay has barely moved,” he said.

He says the ATA has pitched solutions to address the teacher to student ratio, but those attempts have been turned down.

The government’s press conference can be watched below.

TikTok video on this story here.

by Josh Hall | @Vancan19

ATA: Kids will be in Alberta schools next week, despite impasse between teachers and UCP government

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