Alberta Set to Introduce Back-to-Work Legislation for Striking Teachers 

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says her government will introduce back-to-work legislation on Oct. 27 if the province’s striking teachers don’t agree to a deal to end the strike by then.

Smith confirmed her government’s intent to table Bill 2, known as the Back to School Act, during an Oct. 23 press conference before the start of the province’s new legislative session, saying the measure is being introduced as “a last resort.”

The province also provided official notice, in the Alberta legislative assembly’s Oct. 23 agenda, which described an accelerated process including no more than one hour allotted to each reading of the bill.

“The precondition has to be getting kids back to school, and so far, [the teachers union has] been unwilling to do that,” Smith said at the press conference. “It’s not to say that they won’t have an agreement with us in the next 72 hours, but we feel that it’s not going to move in that direction.”

Smith said “there is still time” for the teachers union, the Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA), to tell the province it will ask its members to return to work and see if the two parties can reach a negotiation. She noted that last week her government made a mediation offer to the union that would have settled the ongoing strike and returned students to the classroom; however, the union rejected the offer.

The premier said the ATA made an offer in response that “moves us even further apart rather than closer together.” At an Oct. 17 press conference, Smith noted the offer would cost taxpayers an additional $2 billion on top of the $2.6 billion already committed, and said she was willing to legislate teachers back to work.

Alberta teachers went on strike on Oct. 6 after a months-long contract dispute between the ATA, which represents 51,000 educators in the province, and the Teachers’ Employer Bargaining Association, which bargains on behalf of school boards. The ATA has called for the province to address classroom complexity and higher salaries.

The ATA said in an Oct. 22 statement it is aware the provincial government intends to legislate an end to the strike, but notes that doing so “will not bring an end to the deteriorating conditions.”

“We remain prepared to negotiate solutions that include a student-teacher ratio,” the ATA said. “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.”

Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi reacted to Smith’s intention to introduce Bill 2, calling the decision “the biggest abuse of democratic rights in Alberta’s history.”

“This is an attack on teachers, on public education, on all workers and their unions, and on democracy itself,” Nenshi said in an Oct. 23 statement. “We unequivocally condemn it.”

“Now, forcing teachers to go back to the same crowded classrooms and failing education system doesn’t solve any of the problems.”

When asked at the Oct. 23 press conference what her reaction was to Nenshi’s comments, Smith noted that the NDP government of Manitoba has essential services legislation for teachers, but she said Alberta didn’t go that route so far because “we respect the collective bargaining process.”

“But when you get to a point where irreparable harm is being caused to kids, that’s where we have to draw a line and we have to make sure those kids are back in class,” Smith told reporters.

Chandra Philip contributed to this report.