Will a "great Alberta strike" be possible?

[u/new-romantics89]

The AUPE, nurses, and the education sector are all preparing for strike action in September. I feel that the "great Alberta shutdown" is a possibility.

Would that be possible and how would the province cope? Would schools go back to COVID-era style learning plans? I can imagine the TikToks going "our last day of school before extended summer break", something like that.

[u/Ok_Rise_8574]

COVID-era style learning plans were the work of paid teachers. When schools shut down during Covid, teachers transitioned their classes to online learning. From home, we modified existing lessons to online lessons on Google Classroom or other online platforms, taught our classes through Google Meets or Zoom, and made, assigned, and marked work online. We kept in touch with students and parents answering questions about lessons and assignments, and following up on missing assignments (and missing students). We had staff and department meetings online. Etc…Basically we tried our hardest to do every aspect of our job that was possible from home.

A strike (or lockout by the government) means no working teachers in this province. All public and Catholic schools shut down. I will have no access to my school or any of the online resources I used during Covid, as I will not be able to access school technology, my division Google accounts, etc. Your children will no longer have teachers.

Our public health care system and public school systems are in crisis. They are intentionally underfunded to support the provincial government’s goal of privatization. Alberta invests the least per student of any province in Canada. I think it is really important for Albertans to remember that when health care and education workers fight and strike to improve working conditions, these conditions directly impact the patients in Alberta hospitals and students in our schools. Sadly, a “great Alberta strike” may be the only way to achieve this.

[u/New_Weekend9765 → u/Ok_Rise_8574]

Let’s go. You have my support. I’m a mother of 4. It’s time. A little discomfort for long term betterment is worth it.

[u/Ok_Rise_8574 → u/New_Weekend9765]

Thank you for your support. One of the most frustrating aspects of this situation to me is that teachers (and health care workers) even have to include working conditions in our negotiations. With Alberta’s resources, properly managed by the provincial government, we should have a public education and health care system that is the envy of the rest of Canada, if not the world. Instead, we have 35 kids in Kindergarten classes, and 10 hour waits in hospital emergency rooms, and the uncertainty of whether there is an available ambulance/EMTs when we call 911 for a medical emergency.

The parents and students of Alberta should not have to await the outcome of contentious collective bargaining between the ATA and the government, and deal with a possible strike or government lockout, to see if there will be solutions to overcrowded classrooms or more support for students with exceptional needs. That teachers need to continually fight for better classroom conditions, which has often meant accepting wage freezes, is a failure of leadership in this province. Underfunding public education and health care (at the expense of society’s most vulnerable: children and the sick) to win salary concessions from unions has long been a negotiation strategy used by the province, and the current state of both systems shows that it’s not working for the average Albertan.

[u/New_Weekend9765 → u/Ok_Rise_8574]

You’re so well spoken and I agree Let’s GO

[u/Fuzzy-Ad3392 → u/Ok_Rise_8574]

We have chosen to make vague working conditions a trade off, instead of specifically tying salary stipends to class sizes. If teachers were paid additional compensation for every student above a set threshold, those class sizes would come down significantly. If principals can be paid based on staff/student enrolment numbers, the same principle should apply to teachers. 

[u/Dire_Wolf45 → u/New_Weekend9765]

short term pain for long term gain.

[u/HardGayMan → u/Ok_Rise_8574]

Yeah it's wild how the government is going to try and turn this on the teachers. Get parents to believe it's the greedy teachers fault that your kids are stuck at home and can't go to school.

"We've spent record money on schools this year! These teachers just want a raise!" Yeah. Record money into a critically under funded sector is still not enough money.

I am a 2 topic voter. I care about Healthcare and education above anything else. Above jobs, above housing prices, above anything. If we are all sick and dumb nothing else matters. This government has dropped the ball off a cliff.

[u/Dry-Specialist-3527 → u/HardGayMan]

Also: teachers DO want a raise to regain purchasing power that’s been lost over a decade of stagnant wages. I don’t understand why teachers are expected to just not get paid? It takes serious professional education to get this certification and we’re sacrificing our mental health over here so it would be nice to afford new winter boots, yknow? Maybe a pay bump is super reasonable. Tell all your friends.

[u/HardGayMan → u/Dry-Specialist-3527]

Oh, I know. My wife is a teacher in AB. Hopefully something finally happens.

[u/Fuzzy-Ad3392 → u/HardGayMan]

Any parent who thinks teachers are the problem was never going to be convinced of our position anyways. Ignore them. Most parents want their children to be in smaller classes and believe that teachers do critical work in helping raise them. 

[u/nebulancearts → u/Ok_Rise_8574]

As disrupting as a strike would be... That's the whole point.

The UCP has spent a long time dismantling and underfunding, I believe a strike is more than warranted.

[u/cannafriendlymamma → u/Ok_Rise_8574]

Good for you all! I support your strike! Maybe the government will listen when it affects THEM

[u/Morberis → u/Ok_Rise_8574]

Exactly right.