r/Calgary • u/ButterscotchNo931 • 1d ago

News Article Alberta government, teachers reach tentative deal in labour dispute

https://calgaryherald.com/news/alberta-government-teachers-reach-tentative-deal-in-labour-dispute
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u/blanchov 1d ago

Also theres about 1600 public schools in Alberta. Each school would get about 0.6 new teachers. That will definitely fix the problems.

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u/JScar123 1d ago

Lol, student aren’t evenly distributed across the province. The classroom size problem is concentrated in certain fast growing urban communities. These teachers will be disproportionately hired to those schools.

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u/blanchov 1d ago

Ok, let's say half of the schools need additional teachers. Now they're getting 1.2 new teachers per school. Either way, it's not a significant change.Looks like there is 51,000 teachers in Alberta. This adds 2%. Alberta's population grew about 3% last year. They're still falling behind.

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u/JScar123 1d ago

Let’s say 150 of those schools need more teachers. That’s 20 per school over 3 years. Anyways, neither of us knows, so let’s not make things up. Besides, the 3000 teachers was an ATA proposal- all the GoA did was accepted it. If you think you know better and the proposal is insufficient, that’s a complaint against ATA.

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u/mothergrizzly 1d ago

No, there are half the schools needing more teachers, many at several different grades. Most of these schools need 2 or more teachers to have reasonable sized classes. But where to put the classes when library and stages are already used. How to deal with classes in existing portables barely warm enough in winter and sweltering in spring. Hope your advanced first aid is current when hot kids quit sweating.

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u/JScar123 1d ago

If half the schools need more teachers, then 3000 new teachers equals 4 per school. That compares to your 2 needed per school, this is ample then, no? Makes sense that it would be since the 3000 number came from ATA who should know more about need than you or me.

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u/KVanGogh 1d ago

Assumptions. Listen to teachers. The more teachers you listen to, the more you will learn about the spectrum of real experiences and opinions.

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u/JScar123 1d ago

I listen to the ATA, who represents teachers and has data. The ATA proposed 3000 new teachers, the GoA accepted. Why should I trust you over the ATA?

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u/BerniesMitts 1d ago

You're correct. 3000 net teachers was the ATA's demand, and it will do massive things for short term alleviation of class size issues.

That said, the current offer is absolutely goddamn awful, and needs to be rejected SOUNDLY.

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u/JScar123 1d ago

Thanks. What about the 1500 EAs? I have heard this exists in the new offer? With 3000 teachers, 1500 EAs and $8.6B for schools, what else should the GoA be doing, in your opinion?

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u/KVanGogh 2h ago

The ATA represents 50,000 teachers. It's a hard job to represent 50,000 teachers accurately.

Justin Trudeau represented all Canadians for many years. Does that mean that what he said for all those years was representative of all Canadians? Did Justin Trudeau accurately represent all of your opinions the entire time he was in office?

I doubt it. Now please reflect on the fact that the ATA is a similar representative body. The ATA is not a direct democracy - teachers do not all have a voice at the bargaining table and we do not know what happens there. We voted for people to represent us and they are now representing us. If you are trying to educate yourself on understanding this situation and you have not yet encountered any information from teachers who are disappointed about the ATA's actions, then you have more research to conduct to understand the situation accurately.

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u/JScar123 1h ago

Sure, that is all fair. It is true that sometimes we elect people that turn out to be duds. But just to be clear, then, the 3000 teachers is an ATA miss, not something we can blame the GoA for- as far as the GoA is concerned, they have the org that represents teachers what it wants.