MRU rally sees teachers, students and staff march in support of ATA members

About 200 post-secondary teachers, students and staff skipped out on class Tuesday for an 'education solidarity' rally.

Post-secondary teachers, students and staff hosted a solidarity rally Tuesday in support of the Alberta Teachers’ Association and its members.

The Mount Royal Faculty Association (MRFA) hosted the rally and information picket in front of the university for about 200 people.

Organizers say it was to “defend the fundamental rights of all workers” after the notwithstanding clause was invoked to end the teachers’ strike.

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“It’s something that all Albertans should be concerned about when the province can so easily strip away our rights under the charter,” MRFA President Brenda Lang said. “We’re not going to sit quietly by and hope they will rescind it.”

“(If the province doesn’t), there will be more pressure to recall MLAs who thought it was a good idea to take that action.”

The United Conservative Party government used the notwithstanding clause on Oct. 27.

The clause overrides rights, but must be renewed every five years to help hold governments accountable.

Under the law, teachers who refuse to return to class could face fines of $500 per day, while their union could be penalized $500,000 daily.

MRU humanities professor Roberta Lexier says it was an aggressive step that should have never been taken.

“The courts are shut down through the notwithstanding clause, but [workers and their unions] also can’t turn to the Human Rights Board or the Labour Relations Board. So really, the government’s leaving the teachers with no collective bargaining rights and no ability to challenge any of that,” Lexier said.

“The reality is that the government has really left no other options for the labour movement except for these kinds of rallies and public demonstrations.”

The strike, which was centred around a dispute over wages and working conditions, affected 750,000 students across 2,500 public, separate and francophone schools.

Alberta’s education minister says it couldn’t go on.

“We have to move forward,” Demetrios Nicolaides told CTV News. “I believed it was incredibly important to get students back into school, but also to ensure that the legislature retains the complete authority of policy decisions that affect the province.”

“Elected officials have to be held accountable at the end of the day, and we have to make the final decision versus unelected courts.”

Nicolaides says his government wants to work with the teachers’ union to find the best possible solution to addressing in-classroom challenges.

He met with Premier Danielle Smith on Tuesday morning, and says more public information on that front — likely about a class size and complexity task force — should arrive by the end of the week. \

Unions MIA?

The AUPE health group is just the latest sect of public workers in Alberta to look to job action.

But despite talk of a general strike last week after teachers were ordered back to school, one labour expert says he feels so far, the unions have been all talk.

“The lack of a very quick response to Bill 2 last week is an indication to me that the labour movement wasn’t quite as prepared as they needed to be,” Athabasca University Professor Jason Foster said. “A lot can happen in the days ahead, but mobilizing workers is not something you can do overnight.”

Foster is convinced the “sledgehammer” of the notwithstanding clause, paired with union quiet, has encouraged the province.

“The message they’re taking away from this is they can push public sector workers around and make them do what they want because they have the power of the government,” he told CTV News.