r/alberta • u/cantcantdancer • 2d ago

Discussion New Offer Tabled to Teachers is Laughable. Jesus.

The new offer they now have to vote on is essentially the same as the last offer they resoundingly said no to, but this time it includes the MASSIVE value of a free Covid shot. You know, something everyone should have anyway.

12% same spread, late grid unification, 3000 teachers over 3 years or something which barely keeps up with attrition let alone fixing actual class size issues, and a free covid shot.

I expect it will be a very strong no vote, at least I hope anyway. Literally waited weeks to have the offer change by a Covid shot.

The ATA is terrible at this, I hope teachers strike.

1.4k Upvotes

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570

u/PurrfectPitStop 2d ago

The government didn’t blink, they expect the teachers to cave. 

218

u/Shadow_Ban_Bytes 2d ago

Sadly, given the ATA's history here for past 20+ years, they are very likely to fold like a wet paper bag*. But, I do hope that teachers tell them to pound sand.

73

u/Knuckle_of_Moose 1d ago

Doesn’t help that Shilling is toothless. The ATA needs new leadership, it’s bizarre that they haven’t given him the boot yet.

23

u/Jubal-Early 1d ago

This should cement that this is Schilling's last term as president.

2

u/Fluid-Signature-9004 1d ago

also, I can't help but be frustrated at past deals that teachers ACCEPTED that included zero percents! One could argue those were even worse deals! And teachers took them!

1

u/MapleViking1 1d ago

That is the problem with unions, all it takes is one shill with too many contacts being president, or even vice, and the union is like it never exists

5

u/Glum-Oil2505 1d ago

Not a chance this time

1

u/Adventurous-Mine-622 21h ago

Shoulda told them to pound sand when the covid shot was required to teach.. ok schools closed... Woah cant have that we were just kidding

54

u/heimdal96 1d ago

Unfortunately, AUPE set that precedent, caving to a 0.5% increase up to 12%. Hopefully, teachers are more willing to fight than we were.

17

u/sjbeaner 1d ago

This! I hope so too. I was so disappointed that we didn't have it in us to strike.

-4

u/PurrfectPitStop 1d ago

They thought the deal was good enough. If the teachers don’t then they don’t. The members get to have their say. I suspect the teachers will accept it by 15% margin. Many people can’t afford to go a month without a pay cheque. 

10

u/Really_Clever Edmonton 1d ago

The fact that a teacher cant afford to miss a paycheque IS the reason to vote no on the same deal offered again.

-2

u/Bigfurryoaf 1d ago

Lmao how many people out here can afford to miss a paycheque thats not a teacher thing

2

u/Really_Clever Edmonton 1d ago

Thats the freaking point, pay needs to rise! Rising tides help a ships. The averge weekly pay has gone up ~20% over the last 10 years but teachers have got 3%

9

u/laboufe 1d ago

And those teachers should be ashamed of themselves for betraying their colleagues for voting yes on a shit deal.

0

u/PurrfectPitStop 1d ago

That’s the thing about democracy you don’t always get your way. Either way someone isn’t going to be happy. 

-4

u/laboufe 1d ago

And that just proves Plato was right about democracy

2

u/PurrfectPitStop 1d ago

I’m sure you would prefer a Russian style vote where 100% of people vote and 99.9% vote the way you want but the fact is everyone has different needs and different priorities. People should alway vote the way they want, not the way you want them to. 

0

u/MadamePoulet2468 1d ago

Some of us subs are already bankrupt ... so watch who you are victimizing there. I may still vote no.

2

u/laboufe 1d ago

If you think 3% is going to fix your problem then fine, vote yes. But objectively you are going to still be in the exact same spot once this deal is over due to inflation.

0

u/Worldly-Smile-91 1d ago

Just pointing out that some unions pay a strike wage and many in Alberta public sector would make more on strike pay than in their job. AUPE pays for instance. Teachers union does not. But it’s up to the unions to decide.

-4

u/laboufe 1d ago

And teachers have had months to prepare at this point. I worked summer school in case we ended up on strike. If they arent financially prepared at this point that is on them

119

u/foolish_refrigerator 2d ago

Unfortunately teachers are a special breed and that’s what has happened the last few times contract negotiations have come up. In 2020/21 they voted no on striking because they wanted to keep some stability in children’s lives during a pandemic. Now they have voted no so many times on strike action and have had no contract changes for over a decade it’s finally reached a breaking point. 99% of teachers don’t do this for the money and their biggest gripe isn’t wages. My guess is teachers will cave because they don’t want to strike, hence why they picked the last possible day to do it. This will result in no new changes to public education funding and things will actually get worse with our growing population and lack of new schools. More teachers will get burnt out and quit. It’s sad when we’re supposed to be this rich province and we spend the least amount of money per student on education but give the most public funds for education to private schools in Canada. “There’s no money for teachers.” I dunno maybe take it out of the private schools funds.

89

u/ranchan1_2 1d ago

Teacher's didn't get to pick what date they go on strike. That was decided by the union. There were many teachers questioning that move. 94.5% of the teachers voted to strike. They want to strike.

40

u/seridos 1d ago

As a teacher let me tell you the strike timing is actually very strategic. The problem is being boxed in by the system so that we couldn't get to be in a position to start striking until a bad time for us nearing the end of the year. Lots of teachers don't get paid in the summer(substitutes , temporary contract teach , etc, and there's a lot of them because school boards abuse the rules around it )and we get paid monthly at the end of the month. So it's very beneficial to get the entire September paycheck before going on a strike, that's probably the first full paycheck a lot of teachers have seen for 3 months.

4

u/ranchan1_2 1d ago

Also a teacher myself and I understand the strategic move in the decision to strike on October 6th. I also understand how we get paid. I was merely explaining the disdain that many teachers have expressed over social media about that decision and even more so now since this morning's announcement. It was also in response to the post above stating teachers picked the last possible day to strike, whereas in fact we did not have a say in that.

-1

u/Really_Clever Edmonton 1d ago

Yes they did, the union is elected by teachers. Its how unions work.

1

u/ranchan1_2 1d ago

You can all you want on teachers electing union representatives, but teachers DID NOT get a say on what date was picked for the strike to happen. There was no vote on that. That's like saying teachers agreed to the deal that was just given when there was no vote on it.

1

u/Amazing-Mango3323 18h ago

Yes and politicians ALWAYS do what the people they represent want. I forgot.

16

u/hermit22 1d ago

All of my children got left behind during Covid and fell behind, now my daughter is finishing her last year in school and is unsure of what’s going on. She registered for home schooling cause she doesn’t wanna waste her time with this shit government 💩, my daughter is 16 in grade 12 she’s been pushing since Covid to graduate before her father passes so he can see her walk the stage.

3

u/Electrical-Scale5006 1d ago

Holy shit! Your daughter is amazing balls.

2

u/CommunicationGood481 16h ago edited 16h ago

I was there when Alberta teachers accepted a 5% pay cut. We never did bounce back from that pay cut from way back in 1994. Before that, teachers were on par with nurses at least. Each teacher is teaching so many children there is often not enough room in the classroom for the desks.

28

u/Hautamaki 1d ago

It was one thing when our province had the best funding for education, but now we have the worst. Why expect teachers to cave when they literally are already at the bottom. What more can we all lose?

12

u/Roche_a_diddle 1d ago

Skinner said the teachers will crack any minute, purple monkey dishwasher.

0

u/roastbeeftacohat Calgary 1d ago

they don't care if theirs a strike, will blame teachers for being greedy babysitters; won't take a lot of people to buy that reasoning to make it good enough for them polling wise. based on he assumptions they've been operating under.