The Alberta government is expected to table back-to-work legislation today that would force an end to the province-wide teachers’ strike. An order paper from Thursday shows the government plans to introduce Bill 2, the Back to School Act.
The Alberta Teachers Association (ATA) has been on strike since October 6 over class sizes and low per-student funding of public education. The union and employer’s positions remain far apart with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith calling the union’s proposal for negotiated student-teacher ratios unrealistic.
“The government says it wants a settlement yet refuses to even discuss the issues that caused this strike action,” ATA president Jason Schilling said in a press release. “Teachers are absolutely committed to reaching a fair and negotiated agreement, but that requires a serious partner at the bargaining table—one willing to acknowledge the crisis in education and take real action.”
Premier Smith has said that the union needs to acknowledge that there is “more than one way to peel a potato” when it comes to addressing classroom complexity and student needs. On October 16, the provincial government proposed that teachers go back to work and engage in an enhanced mediation process.
“We do not believe this strike can continue indefinitely. It’s hurting students and families, and for that matter, teachers,” Smith said at an October 17 press conference.
The union rejected the proposal of enhanced mediation, noting a stipulation by the government that the mediator’s recommendations would not be able to provide for hard caps on class sizes or student-teacher ratios.
“The proposal for enhanced mediation is bound to fail and is entirely unacceptable to teachers,” the union wrote in a letter to the provincial government.
Alberta teachers are experiencing the highest amount of occupational stress among teachers surveyed from 50 different countries, according to the 2024 Teaching and Learning International Survey.
Forty-two per cent of Alberta teachers report high levels of work stress, this is more than double the global average of 19 per cent. Alberta teachers also work an average of five hours more per week than teachers in other countries excluding Japan, New Zealand and Singapore.
The ATA released a media statement highlighting that back-to-work legislation will not address the underfunding that have led teachers to strike in the first place.
“We remain prepared to negotiate solutions that include a student-teacher ratio,” the union wrote on their website. “Now it’s the government’s turn to take up the challenge of solving these serious issues in cooperation with teachers who want to support their students as best as they can.”
As the 31st legislative session of Alberta kicks into gear, the ATA and its allies prepare to fight against back-to-work legislation. The Alberta Federation of Labour has already called on the government to not use the notwithstanding clause as part of its approach to the teacher’s strike.
“If you take this unprecedented approach, we will have no choice but to mobilize an unprecedented response,” the organization wrote in a letter. “There are many avenues your government could pursue to negotiate with public sector unions that do not involve invoking the notwithstanding clause. We urge you to choose them.”
ATA president Jason Schilling has also lamented the government’s handling of the strike, calling the use of back-to-work legislation unnecessary and undemocratic.
“By choosing to end this legal labour action through legislation, the government is abdicating its duty to address the real issues that teachers—and thousands of Albertans—have raised throughout this strike and in the months leading up to it,” he said.
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