‘Concerned and disappointed’: Alberta ministers provide update on failed teacher contract negotiations

Nathan Horner and Demetrios Nicolaides, Alberta's finance and education ministers, share their thoughts on failed talks with teachers.

As tensions escalate in Alberta’s education labour dispute, Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides and Finance Minister Nate Horner provided an update on the situation Friday.

The news conference at Calgary’s McDougall Centre followed a breakdown in negotiations with the Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) earlier in the week.

In a joint statement released Thursday, the ministers expressed being “deeply concerned and disappointed” after talks with the ATA failed to yield an agreement.

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On Friday, Nicolaides said the Alberta Teachers’ Association is to blame and that the union is “playing politics” with children.

He added the province’s latest offer matches what the union has asked for and he’s baffled over why the deal has been turned down.

The province had tabled an offer that included a 12 per cent salary increase over four years and a separate pay adjustment impacting roughly 95 per cent of teachers.

The proposal also promised the hiring of 3,000 new teachers over three years at a projected cost of $750 million.

Despite the financial commitments, the offer was rejected on Wednesday, and negotiations ended the following day.

Nicolaides said the ATA had told the province that a counter proposal would be coming, but the deadline for that came and went and nothing was received.

“Rather, on Aug. 27, the bargaining team made it clear that the main interest was increasing wages for teachers and opposing the government,” he said.

“The ATA’s focus on wages and not classroom complexity is not what they’ve been saying in public. For months, they have been talking about the need to increase funding, hire more teachers and improve working conditions and provide more supports for teachers.

“However, we have now learned that wages are their main concern.”

Finance Minister Nate Horner, speaking alongside Nicolaides, said the province had looked to teachers’ salaries in other provinces for comparison and found 12 per cent to be the ceiling.

“We want all of our occupations to be paid the going rate and that’s what the data shows,” Horner said.

“I don’t see that offer changing because the data doesn’t show that it should.”

‘Broken down’

On Thursday, the ATA responded with its own statement, stating that the proposed wage increase remained unchanged from earlier offers and did not address key concerns.

It reiterated those comments on Friday, saying those concerns include fair wages and improved conditions.

“Talks have broken down between the ATA and the Teachers’ Employer Bargaining Association (TEBA). Teachers have been firm and unequivocal in saying that the government’s latest offer does not recognize the important work teachers do in our public education system, especially when teachers have been disrespected and undervalued for years.”

In a statement, the ATA said fair wages are key.

“Over the last decade, teacher wages have increased by a total of just 5.75 per cent. With fair wages, we can hire more teachers — and keep the ones we have — but we need the provincial government to step up."

According to the association, the deal falls short of adequately tackling teacher retention and recruitment issues or aligning compensation with inflation.

The ATA said the province’s promise to hire 3,000 teachers over three years is a positive step, but more needs to be done.

“Teachers are the pillars of our public education system. It’s time for the government to step up with a fair deal for teachers, because a fair deal for teachers is a good deal for kids,” said ATA president Jason Schilling in a news release.

With a formal strike still a possibility, the ATA has until Oct. 7 to initiate job action.

The Teachers’ Employer Bargaining Association is also holding a vote on Friday to consider the option of locking out teachers, a move that could disrupt the school year before it even begins.

As it stands, students are still scheduled to return to classrooms on Tuesday.

(With files from the Canadian Press)