{"id":320406,"date":"2025-10-21T05:37:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T05:37:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/320406\/"},"modified":"2025-10-21T05:37:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T05:37:13","slug":"alberta-set-to-order-teachers-back-to-work-next-week-if-strike-unresolved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/320406\/","title":{"rendered":"Alberta set to order teachers back to work next week if strike unresolved"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, right, and Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides provide an update on teacher bargaining in Calgary, on Oct. 17. More than 750,000 students have been out of class since Oct. 6.Jeff McIntosh\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

As more than 50,000 teachers in Alberta enter their third week out of classes, the provincial government is set to table back-to-work legislation when the fall session begins next Monday. <\/p>\n

Premier Danielle Smith<\/a> has said such legislation should be expected on Oct. 27 if the strike is unresolved by then. The province and Alberta Teachers\u2019 Association remain at loggerheads, with the union rejecting Alberta\u2019s proposal<\/a> to enter mediation and end the strike because the province\u2019s conditions mean class-size caps and student-teacher ratios would not be negotiable.<\/p>\n

Even if legislation is tabled next week, questions remain about when classes would restart and whether the issues at the heart of negotiations would be resolved through binding arbitration.<\/p>\n

Alberta teachers say they aren\u2019t equipped to help students with complex needs<\/a><\/p>\n

Next steps will be discussed on Tuesday at a scheduled cabinet meeting, Alberta Jobs and Economy Minister Joseph Schow said at a Monday afternoon news conference in Edmonton.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Opposition would oppose such legislation vehemently, so we would have to use other tools at our disposal to get it through in a timely manner,\u201d said Mr. Schow, also the Government House Leader.<\/p>\n

Mr. Schow wouldn\u2019t comment on whether Alberta plans to use the notwithstanding clause, a provision that allows governments to shield legislation from Charter challenges.<\/p>\n

In a statement to The Globe and Mail, ATA spokesperson Heather Grant said the union\u2019s elected officials are meeting to discuss the government\u2019s comments.<\/p>\n

Should Alberta go ahead with back-to-work legislation, Ms. Grant wrote, the ATA would seek advice from legal counsel.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Striking Alberta teachers and supporters wave signs in Edmonton on Oct. 16.Aaron Sousa\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

More than 750,000 French, Catholic and public school students have been out of class since Oct. 6 \u2212 the day teachers walked off the job after voting overwhelmingly to strike. The negotiations have pivoted around salaries, class sizes and resources for students with complex needs.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the largest strike in Alberta history and the first job action by teachers in the province since 2002, when about 21,000 public school teachers walked off the job. In that instance, classes in many parts of the province had been cancelled for more than two weeks when the Alberta government issued an emergency order forcing teachers back to work.<\/p>\n

But the province chose to issue a ministerial order instead of passing back-to-work legislation \u2212 a more efficient but less surefire way of forcing teachers back to work.<\/p>\n

The union challenged the order and won, with Justice Allan Wachowich finding the strike hadn\u2019t caused hardship sufficient to suspend a group\u2019s right to strike. \u201cIf a strike did not cause some degree of hardship it would be pointless,\u201d Justice Wachowich wrote in his decision.<\/p>\n

In the Alberta Legislature, it could take 24 hours to a week for back-to-work legislation to become law, said Jason Foster, professor of human resources and labour relations at Athabasca University.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis depends on how that back-and-forth battle with the Opposition will play out and how much time they\u2019re prepared to give for debate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The union\u2019s ability to challenge back-to-work legislation would be more difficult than in 2002, Prof. Foster said. It could take the province to court by launching a time-consuming legal challenge for which a decision likely wouldn\u2019t be issued for six months to a year \u2212 and a decision in the teachers\u2019 favour would likely result in a years-long appeal process, he said.<\/p>\n

Alberta private-school funding under fresh scrutiny amid historic teachers\u2019 strike<\/a><\/p>\n

But Alberta also has the option of shielding the legislation with the notwithstanding clause, overriding the union\u2019s ability to issue a legal challenge, Prof. Foster said. In 2022, Ontario Premier Doug Ford responded to a potential strike of 55,000 education workers by tabling back-to-work legislation that included the notwithstanding clause.<\/a><\/p>\n

Mr. Ford eventually repealed that legislation<\/a> after pushback from numerous organized labour groups.<\/p>\n

Back-to-work legislation would nevertheless make strike action illegal, and penalties such as daily fines for the union or individual members could be included, Prof. Foster said.<\/p>\n

Edmonton parent Jodi McDonald says the prospect of the government ordering teachers back to work makes her blood pressure rise.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just makes me so angry. They got us here, and now they don\u2019t want to do the work to get us back to the right place,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Ms. McDonald\u2019s son, in Grade 11, doesn\u2019t require much parenting, she said.<\/p>\n

But parents with younger children may welcome the return to school brought on by back-to-work legislation, said Ms. McDonald, who co-founded the Edmonton Public Schools Advocacy Network in 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think those parents will be relieved to have their kids back in school, and I think that\u2019s what the provincial government\u2019s relying on,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, right, and Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides provide an update…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":320407,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2148,2138,671,104,2132,692,2147,2131,2143,2144,2140,2133,2130,79,407,746,2142,2137,2159,2134,2135,454,2139,1165,728,2149,108,2154,2155,50,2157,2152,2156,2150,2153,2136,85,2146,80,2145,2151,1458,158,1164,2141,1154,107,2158],"class_list":{"0":"post-320406","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-canada","15":"tag-canada-news","16":"tag-canada-sports","17":"tag-canada-sports-news","18":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","19":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","20":"tag-canadian-news","21":"tag-economy","22":"tag-education","23":"tag-environment","24":"tag-federal-government","25":"tag-foreign-news","26":"tag-globe-and-mail","27":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","28":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","29":"tag-government","30":"tag-life-news","31":"tag-lifestyle","32":"tag-local-news","33":"tag-manitoba","34":"tag-national-news","35":"tag-new-brunswick","36":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","37":"tag-news","38":"tag-northwest-territories","39":"tag-nova-scotia","40":"tag-nunavut","41":"tag-ontario","42":"tag-pei","43":"tag-photos","44":"tag-political-news","45":"tag-political-opinion","46":"tag-politics","47":"tag-politics-news","48":"tag-quebec","49":"tag-sports-news","50":"tag-technology","51":"tag-travel","52":"tag-trudeau","53":"tag-us-news","54":"tag-world-news","55":"tag-yukon"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320406","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=320406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/320407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=320406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=320406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=320406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}