ATA President Jason Schilling, ATA News Conference
Teachers to resume extracurriculars as union rejects work-to-rule after strike
Alberta teachers will return to classrooms and resume full school activities — including extracurriculars — after their union confirmed it will not pursue work-to-rule following the legislated end of the provincewide strike.
Alberta Teachers’ Association president Jason Schilling said teachers will obey the back-to-work order and will not engage in any illegal labour action, despite ongoing frustration with the government’s use of the Charter’s notwithstanding clause to end the strike.
“We’re not calling for work-to-rule,” Schilling said. “Teachers will be back in their classrooms teaching students.”
But he added that individual teachers may begin reconsidering how much unpaid work they take on.
“They need to evaluate, and re-evaluate, how they’re spending their voluntary time at school,” he said. “I used to coach cross-country and direct the drama play. Maybe I’m not going to direct the drama play next year.”
The province says it welcomes the decision not to restrict duties.
“We were heartened to see that the Alberta Teachers’ Association has encouraged their members to return to work without work-to-rule measures. We are happy to see kids in their classes and teachers doing what they do best: teaching,” said Marissa Breeze, senior press secretary to Treasury Board president and Finance Minister Nate Horner.
Breeze said extracurriculars remain voluntary, as they have always been.
“Voluntary activities are up to each teacher. The legislation covers teachers’ core responsibilities including student instruction and typical duties as professionals. Additional activities are left at the discretion of the teacher, and they would remain as such. The main thing is that our kids are back in their classes.”
The Back to School Act imposes a contract previously rejected by teachers, including a 12 per cent wage increase over four years and a promise to hire 3,000 teachers and 1,500 educational assistants. It also carries fines of up to $500 a day for teachers and $500,000 a day for the union if they refuse to comply.
The strike kept more than 740,000 students out of classrooms and was the longest in Alberta’s history.
Premier Danielle Smith was not in the legislature when the bill passed. She left Monday afternoon on a trade mission to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and is to return Nov. 5.
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