St. Albert’s Public School teachers have made it clear they want to negotiate their next deal with their local board and not with the province of Alberta.
To that end, the approximately 400 teachers of Alberta Teachers’ Association Local 73 became the first in the province to vote down the province’s proposed labour contract.
Local president Ellen Snaith did not give a specific vote outcome but said the number of teachers who voted no on Tuesday night “was significant.”
Snaith cited numerous concerns that teachers have shared with her, but chief among the reasons was the desire to bargain directly with the St. Albert Public School Board as opposed to the province.
“We have always had an extremely positive local bargaining relationship with our board,” Snaith said. “(There is) mutual respect, co-operation, and we have every reason to believe that that is what works best for the teachers of St. Albert Public.”
Other concerns included the four-year term of the agreement. Salary, which the proposed provincial framework would freeze for the first three years of the four-year deal, was not a factor, Snaith said.
“I had a number of teachers come to me and make sure I understood that their decision wasn’t based on the salary component of the agreement,” Snaith added.
To date 26 of 62 bargaining units in Alberta have ratified the province’s deal. The proposal is meant to replace the five-year deal Alberta teachers signed with the province that has since expired.
Snaith acknowledged local 73 was the first to reject the contract, but said others still to vote should simply vote their conscience.
“I hope that each teacher listens to what is being said about the framework, asks questions and makes a decision that they feel is right regardless of what anyone else has done,” Snaith said.
What happens next is unknown. Snaith said the teachers do not plan to hold a strike vote and reiterated the desire to speak with the local board.
Superintendent Barry Wowk said administration is equally unsure about what the next steps are. All bargaining units are supposed to hold votes on the provincial agreement prior to May 13. Wowk was scheduled to update the board on the teachers’ decision May 8.
“We’ll be waiting for the minister after May 13 to give direction,” said Wowk, referring to Education Minister Jeff Johnson. “This is a new process. Our process is built around local bargaining and this is a provincially negotiated agreement.”
