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Creating the Conditions for the Best Professional Practice is a series of articles by the Teacher Welfare (TW) program area of the Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA). Previous articles published in the ATA News have been posted to the ATA’s website (www.teachers.ab.ca).
Teachers in Alberta have been working without new collective agreements since August 2012. As we head into the second half of the school year, many teachers question if the slow progress of collective bargaining is cause for concern. For reasons outlined here, the answer is no.
In August 2012, collective agreements for Alberta teachers working in public, separate and francophone school jurisdictions expired. These collective agreements had been in place since the 2007/08 school year. Much has changed in public education since 2007, and the conditions of practice for all teachers have become more complex. In addition, school boards have created new positions and roles within schools or central offices since 2007. Given this, initial proposals put forward by teacher negotiating subcommittees introduced many clauses to improve the conditions of practice for professional teachers. Discussing complex work such as teaching and administration takes time, so it’s important to provide teacher bargainers with an opportunity to explore these issues with school boards and central office staff.
Adding to the complexity of local bargaining were tripartite discussions between government, the ATA and the Alberta School Boards Association. Discussions were intended to craft a provincial framework for bargaining which, once ratified by teachers and school boards, would be incorporated into new collective agreements. During tripartite discussions, the parties set aside local issues related to salary and caps on instructional and assignable time in the hope these matters could be resolved within a provincial framework.
The demise of tripartite discussions in December and the rejection of the education minister’s offer to the ATA means that monetary and professional issues are being discussed at the local level for the first time. Understandably, several meetings will be needed to find agreement on these important topics.
Finally, teachers concerned about the length of time it is taking to negotiate new collective agreements should be assured that the current experience is not new or unusual. Historically, teachers have worked for many months—sometimes longer than a school year—without new collective agreements being reached. The current experience is within the norm for teacher collective bargaining. Teachers should be assured the bridging provisions that allow for the expired collective agreements to continue in full force will remain in effect until one of two things occur: new collective agreements are formed or, after prolonged bargaining and mediation, lockouts or strikes arise—note: no bargaining units are in mediation at this time.
Presently, the ATA is confident that local bargaining will succeed and new collective agreements in most areas of the province will be achieved in the near future.
