{"id":186576,"date":"2025-08-30T06:10:19","date_gmt":"2025-08-30T06:10:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/186576\/"},"modified":"2025-08-30T06:10:19","modified_gmt":"2025-08-30T06:10:19","slug":"possible-strike-by-alberta-teachers-looming-as-school-year-set-to-begin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/186576\/","title":{"rendered":"Possible strike by Alberta teachers looming as school year set to begin"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Concerns are growing over the possibility of a strike by teachers in Alberta after a break down in contract talks between the <a href=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/tag\/alberta-teachers-association\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Alberta Teachers\u2019 Association<\/a> (ATA) and the provincial government.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/70c8fc80.png\" alt=\"\" style=\"position:absolute;width:1px;height:1px\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Contract talks had been taking place this week with the help of a mediator.<\/p>\n<p>But the UCP government is now accusing ATA of walking away from the bargaining table.<\/p>\n<p>So far the union has not served strike notice, but if the province\u2019s 51,000 teachers do plan to take job action, the union must provide 72-hour strike notice.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-video__image\" alt=\"Click to play video: 'No deal for Alberta teachers after latest talks break down'\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Teachers_Bargaining_Update_Erik_Bay_Thumbnail_1.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"   data-\/><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t1:55<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNo deal for Alberta teachers after latest talks break down\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>The ATA has said wages, classroom conditions, overcrowding and resources for students are the main issues.<\/p>\n<p>Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n<p>The government claims its latest contract offer includes hiring 3,000 new teachers over three years and boosting teachers pay by 12 per cent over four years.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"170\" height=\"225\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/national.jpg\" alt=\"Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\tGet daily National news<\/p>\n<p>Get the day&#8217;s top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are deeply concerned and disappointed with the decision of the Alberta Teachers\u2019 Association to break off negotiations with so much at stake and so close to a reasonable settlement,\u201d the government said in statement released late Thursday by Alberta\u2019s ministers of education and finance.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking at a Friday morning news conference in Calgary, Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides claimed the latest contract offer gives the union everything it has been asking for.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnfortunately, it\u2019s becoming increasingly clear that the Alberta Teachers\u2019 Association union leadership is only interested in playing politics with our kids,\u201d said Nicolaides.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cParents should be furious that union leaders are gambling with their kids\u2019 future and their learning.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-video__image\" alt=\"Click to play video: 'Alberta Teachers\u2019 Association warns education system \u2018unsustainable\u2019 after talks break down'\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/jason.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"   data-\/><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t3:51<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAlberta Teachers\u2019 Association warns education system \u2018unsustainable\u2019 after talks break down\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Speaking at a news conference in Edmonton later Friday morning, ATA President Jason Schilling, said the wage offer made by the government was already turned down by teachers in the spring when they voted 95 per cent in favour of strike action, if needed.<\/p>\n<p>Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTeachers cannot accept a salary offer that does not attract and retain Alberta teachers by catching up and keeping up with inflation,\u201d said Schilling.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTeachers have only received a 5.75 per cent wage increase in the last decade.\u00a0 A fair wage is not just about money, it\u2019s about showing respect for the value teachers bring to Alberta\u2019s education system,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Schilling also calls the province\u2019s offer to hire 3,000 more teachers \u201ca drop in the bucket\u201d to address population growth in an already strained education system.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs students begin again attending classes across the province, they will once again be returning to a public education system that spends the least per student in Canada,\u201d said Schilling.<\/p>\n<p>News of the breakdown in contract negotiations comes just a day after Alberta Finance Minister, Nate Horner, announced that the provincial budget deficit is projected to increase to $6.5 billion this year.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s $1.3 billion more than Horner forecast when he tabled the budget in February.<\/p>\n<p>The government blames lower than expected oil prices for the province\u2019s worsening financial situation.<\/p>\n<p>-with files from The Canadian Press.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t&amp;copy 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Concerns are growing over the possibility of a strike by teachers in Alberta after a break down in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":186577,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[104595,2147,407,50],"class_list":{"0":"post-186576","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-alberta-teachers-association","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-education","11":"tag-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115116233845189913","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186576"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186576\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}