Alberta teachers, 51,000 strong, have been on strike across the province since October 6. On Monday, the provincial government is expected to table legislation to order them back to work.  Some 740,000 students in all public, Catholic, and francophone schools are affected. The issues are salary and the consequences of the UCP Government’s underfunding of public education: workload, class sizes, school resources, and the need for more teachers.  Jason Schilling, President of the Alberta Teachers Association (ATA) commented that back-to-work legislation would be “undemocratic and deeply disrespectful to teachers, to students and to the collective bargaining process itself.” The latest mediated offer included a 12% increase over four years and 3,000 more teachers. But teacher’s salaries have fallen drastically with inflation, and the new teachers would be soaked up by the Government’s promised 250 new schools and a 33,000 increase in student numbers every year.  Teachers soundly rejected the latest offer, with 89.5% voting no at the end of September. Talks resumed October 14, but no change is expected in the employer’s position.  The employer school boards bargain jointly through a board representing all 65 boards. The employers have their purse strings held tight by the Government. ATA members voted 95% to strike in June. The government did no meaningful bargaining all summer.  If the government’s goal was to turn the public against the teachers, it failed. On October 4, two days before the strike was set to begin, massive pro-teacher rallies took place in the province. Crowds were estimated to be as high as 18,000 in Edmonton and 5,000 in Calgary.  One online poll by Angus Reid pegs support for the teachers at almost 60%, with only 21% backing the UCP.  After the strike started, the government announced 30-dollar-per-day payments to parents of students 12 and under students. It has also announced computer-based home learning programs, which include American content.  The UCP has been cutting public school funding since taking power in 2019. Alberta’s per-student funding in public schools has plummeted to the lowest in Canada, while its public funding for private schools has risen to the highest in the country.  It seems that the UCP’s goal is to weaken all aspects of public education so that parents will look elsewhere to private schooling options or even home schooling. Premier Danielle Smith said in 2018 that a way must be found to “break” the public school system’s “monopoly” on education.  At their last party convention, the UCP resolved to break up the Alberta Teachers Association by moving its regulatory and discipline function to another body and making ATA membership optional.  Update on teachers strike

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