BARRHEAD-Teachers in Northern Gateway School Division voted overwhelmingly to authorize the Alberta Teachers' Association (ATA) to request a strike vote.
The teachers voted in favour of the request by a 99 per cent margin at their annual general meeting on Nov. 16.
The teachers have been working for over two years without a finalized collective agreement. Northern Gateway is one of only seven school boards in the province that have not reached a local settlement for the 2018/19 and 2019/20 school years.
Effectively that means even if ATA Local 43 and the school division were to sign the contract tomorrow, it would be expired before it was ratified.
ATA spokesperson Mike Milne said even though Local 43 is only one of only a few locals that have not reached an agreement for the 2019/2020 school year, all Alberta teachers are effectively working without a contract as all contracts expired on Aug. 31.
"It is a long process," he said, adding there are three stages in coming to a collective agreement.
The first is list bargaining, where the ATA and province decide what issues will apply to all school divisions and locals and what issues will be negotiated between individual school divisions and their locals.
The next stage is central bargaining where the ATA and the province negotiate issues that apply to everyone.
"Things like wages are for the entire teaching profession, so that would be an example of something that would be decided through central bargaining between the province and the ATA as a whole," Milne said. "Local bargaining might include things like ‘balance days’ and how they are administered.
ATA Northern Gateway Local 43 president Katrina Zack, who is also an art teacher at Hilltop High School in Whitecourt, said she hoped the threat of potential job action brings the school division back to the bargaining table.
Some of the issues Local 43 teachers are hoping that will be addressed in the collective agreement include ensuring that when teachers are sick or on leave, they are replaced by certified substitute teachers and ensuring that administrators receive days in-lieu when working outside the collective agreement dates.
"The teachers of Northern Gateway want what 98 per cent of our colleagues across the province have received. Our asks are fair and easily obtainable. Taking a strike vote is not something we want to do. It is a last resort. It is imperative that we all work as hard as we can to get a collective agreement to ensure there are no disruptions to students and families in our communities," she said. “Northern Gateway teachers are rock stars. We have risen to the challenges the pandemic has thrown at us. Not having a collective agreement is one more stressor that is not needed. We hope to alleviate that and get a final collective agreement so that we can continue to do what we do best, educating children."
Northern Gateway Public Schools response
In a media release, the school division stated that local bargaining began in mid-September, with two negotiating days scheduled.
"At the end of bargaining on day one, the teachers’ union ended bargaining and announced, to the school division’s surprise, that the teachers’ union would be proceeding immediately to mediation," the release stated. "At the end of day one, the teachers’ union unilaterally shut down mediation and directed the mediator to end the mediation process."
If the teachers do vote to strike in the future, teachers could legally strike after providing 48 hours notice to the employer.
As of Nov. 19, the school division has not received that notice, nor are any bargaining scheduled.
The school division added that they have turned their attention to creating a contingency plan for any potential job action.
The division operates 16 schools, four colony schools and four off-campus outreach programs, serving around 5,000 students in the communities of Alberta Beach, Onoway, Rich Valley, Darwell, Sangudo, Mayerthorpe, Whitecourt, Fox Creek and Valleyview and employs more than 300 full-time and part-time teachers.
Barry Kerton, TownandCountryToday.com