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By The Canadian Press

Day Four

Labour relations expert perplexed by delayed lockout in teachers’ strike

Oct 9, 2025 | 9:44 AM

As an Alberta-wide teachers strike drags into its fourth day, a labour relations expert doesn’t see why the group in charge of bargaining for the government delayed their lockout.

Earlier this week, the Teachers’ Employer Bargaining Association notified the Alberta Teachers’ Association that a lockout would begin this afternoon.

Jason Foster from Athabasca University says the decision effectively stops teachers from being able to change how they strike, taking things like rotating job action off the table.

Foster says it also means school boards now have the option to start laying off workers such as educational assistants and custodians, who have been working since the strike began Monday.

He says the bargaining group had plenty of notice and could have easily issued the lockout notice to align with the strike deadline.

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Bargaining chair Scott McCormack says rotating strikes by educational assistants earlier this year created “tremendous uncertainty,” and a lockout makes sure that doesn’t happen again.

The job action by 51-thousand Alberta teachers stems from a dispute with Premier Danielle Smith’s government over wages and working conditions.

It is the largest labour walkout the province has ever seen.

(The Canadian Press)