Teachers’ union braces for back-to-work legislation

The Alberta Teachers' Association says the government plans to legislate teachers back to work after almost three weeks of striking.

The Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) says the government is planning to legislate teachers back to work, and labour relations experts say they are watching closely to see how the government writes the legislation and how the union responds.

The strike has stretched on for almost three weeks.

In that time, teachers haven’t been paid, and students and their families have been scrambling.

Carrie Forster has been on strike and away from her Grade 1 classroom in Airdrie to demand changes in education.

“There’s a lot of complexities, there’s a lot of kids, and we’re doing a body break and we couldn’t even move properly and I found that, for a veteran teacher, overwhelming,” she said.

Forster hopes an agreement can be reached at the bargaining table before the province legislates an end to the strike and to justify her unpaid time spent away from her passion as a teacher.

“Government wants to brush it under the carpet and mandate us back and not deal with it,” she said.

In a statement released Wednesday, the ATA said it’s preparing for the government to legislate an end to the strike shortly after the legislature resumes the fall session on Thursday.

The union confirms it’s consulting with lawyers on how to respond.

A major reason for striking remains, according to the ATA.

“There’s only two provinces in the whole country that don’t have any protections within a collective agreement around class sizes and student-teacher ratios,” said Jason Schilling, ATA president.

One labour relations expert says it’s critical for the union to include these issues in collective bargaining and get a deal done to conclude this strike.

“If teachers went out on strike this fall because they are angry and feeling disrespected and feeling like their issues are not being addressed, imagine how they are going to feel four years from now when there’s been another four years of deteriorating classroom conditions, and they got legislated back to work. They are going to be even more angry,” said Jason Foster, labour relations professor at Athabasca University.

Foster is also watching closely to see what the union might do after legislation is tabled and whether teachers fall in.

“For the union, there’s a risk that they might turn on the union, because the frustration has got to go somewhere. So it’s either going to go up against the employer and the government, or it might go against the union,” he said.

“So if the union is wise, they will be channelling that anger toward the provincial government.”

The Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL) says other public sector unions under negotiations are also prepared to rally against the province.

“You can’t just use their legislative power to impose a contract without negotiation; that breaks the constitution,” said Gil McGowan, AFL president.

Legislation would likely pass through swiftly with a UCP majority, despite the NDP opposition’s stance to block it.

“It violates their right to actually advocate for themselves and for their students and for their co-workers and it doesn’t solve the problem,” said Naheed Nenshi, Alberta NDP leader.

Foster says there are three possible outcomes in the near-term:

• teachers are legislated back to work with binding arbitration decided by a third party;
• teachers resume under “work-to-rule” status without doing voluntary or extracurricular activities; or
• teachers could defy the legislation and continue the strike illegally.

Foster is also watching to see whether the province applies the notwithstanding clause.

That would block the teachers’ union from mounting a Charter challenge against the province.

Foster adds this could spur other public sector unions to mobilize in support of teachers and cause further labour disruption.