Latest news with #JasonSchilling
CTV News
29-05-2025
- General
- CTV News
Alberta teachers to vote on strike in early June
A classroom at an elementary school in Toronto pictured on Jan. 9, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young After members of the Alberta Teachers' Association (ATA) voted 99 per cent in favour of a strike authorization vote last week, another vote will take place in early June to determine if teachers will actually take to the picket line. Collective bargaining agreement negotiations have remained in limbo since teachers' contract ended in August 2024. The province said it is ready to return to the bargaining table 'at any time,' but did not provide any new information on the stroke vote. In a Thursday statement, ATA president Jason Schilling said 'concrete steps are needed to improve the neglect the teaching profession has suffered over the last decade.' The ATA rejected a mediator's recommendations for a new provincial collective agreement earlier this month. The recommendations included a general wage increase of three per cent per year, a process for teachers to deal with classroom complexities and $400 million in classroom improvements. Following the rejection, the ATA initiated a strike authorization vote to gauge the temperature of its members. Nearly all who voted were in favour of going to a strike vote. If the strike vote passes, teachers have 120 days to take action unless a resolution is made between the provincial government's Teachers' Employer Bargaining Association and the ATA. Some of the ATA's demands include wage increases and supports to address complex needs in crowded classrooms. Voting will take place June 5-8.
CTV News
27-05-2025
- Business
- CTV News
99 per cent of Alberta teachers urge for formal strike vote
An empty teacher's desk is seen in this generic image of a classroom. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward Nearly 38,000 teachers cast online ballots between May 22 and 26 to determine a strike authorization vote. Almost all of them voted in favour. A statement from the Alberta Teachers' Association (ATA) released Tuesday said that 99 per cent of its members want to go to a formal strike vote after collective agreement negotiations between the ATA and the province's Teachers' Employer Bargaining Association came to a standstill earlier this month. 'Teachers are standing united in demanding respect and recognition for the challenges they experience in today's classrooms,' said ATA president Jason Schilling in a statement. 'Settling for anything less than tangible solutions will not be tolerated.' Strike authorization votes are typically held to gauge the sentiments of a union. After the vote has been conducted, it is up to the ATA's Provincial Executive Council to go to a strike vote or not. If a formal strike vote passes, teachers have 120 days to take action unless a resolution is made between the province and the ATA during that time. Some of the ATA's demands include wage increases and supports to address complex needs in crowded classrooms. Earlier this month, the ATA rejected a mediator's recommendations for a new provincial collective agreement that would include a general wage increase of three per cent per year, a process teachers could go through dealing with classroom complexities and $400 million in classroom improvements. 'The ATA's membership recently rejected an offer that was endorsed by its leadership and recommended by a mediator,' said the Ministry of Treasury Board and Finance in a statement. 'We are waiting to hear from the ATA on what teachers are looking for and why about 60% of those voting did not endorse the deal.' After Budget 2025 was tabled in February, the ATA said the $9.9 billion wasn't enough to address the issues in Alberta schools. According to the ATA, provincial funding needed to increase by 15.8 per cent to bring funding closer to the national average. The national average is about $10-a-day per student. The ATA said the 2025 budget allows for $3.57-per student per-year. The previous agreement expired on Aug. 31, 2024.
CTV News
20-05-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
Alberta teachers concerned planned junior high curriculum changes for fall won't be able to be implemented
Teachers from across the province met in Edmonton over the Victoria Day long weekend for their annual Alberta Teachers' Association representative assembly, in which they decided to move forward on two main issues: the government's planned changes curriculum and on opposing the use of literacy screeners for Kindergarten to Grade 3. Jason Schilling, the president of the teachers' association, told CTV News Edmonton on Monday the curriculum changes spurred a 'big discussion' on the Alberta government's plans to move ahead with changes to it in the fall. The problem for the teachers, Schilling said, is that they have yet to see what it looks like and don't expect they will be ready to put it into action next school year. 'They want to pilot this curriculum in the fall, but we've yet to see a draft version of this curriculum, and we're getting into the third week of May,' Schilling said. 'There's just no way that teachers will be ready to implement any kind of pilot in the fall when they've not seen the curriculum.' On the provincial plan to use literacy scanners for Kindergarten to Grade 3, Schilling said teachers passed a resolution opposing the move. 'Why are we testing kids in kindergarten on concepts that are taught in Grade 2?' he said. 'Teachers are really concerned about the harm that it's doing to young students as they're just starting their education careers.' With files from CTV News Edmonton's Sean McClune
CTV News
12-05-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
‘It wasn't good enough': ATA rejects mediator's proposal, enters cooling off period
Jason Schilling, Alberta Teachers' Association President, speaks with Alberta Primetime host Michael Higgins about their contract negotiations with the province This interview has been edited for clarity and length. Michael Higgins: Why was it that a majority of your members voted to reject the proposal? Jason Schilling: We traveled the province, in what we call our member information meetings, and predominantly we heard two factors addressing classroom conditions: class size, and the needs for our students, which you've heard me talk about time and time again. It just wasn't there, it wasn't good enough, and then also salaries as well. Teachers were looking forward to ways to make up for losses, to pass inflation, many years of zeros that we have taken, and to address current inflation as well. So there are different areas there the teachers felt that this mediator's recommendation just wasn't good enough, and they weren't happy with the status quo, and voted accordingly. MH: Eighteen though had recommended acceptance. JS: Ultimately, yeah, but at the end of the day, teachers have the final say in what they will accept and what they won't accept, and as members of council, we will lead our members through that. MH: In the minister's words, there's a substantial component to address classroom complexity. Is it as simple as moving the pieces around? JS: Well, I wish it was that simple. It just simply is not. We have been chronically underfunded for years. We are the least funded in all of Canada when it comes to spending per student, per capita and operation spending. Budget 2025 did not see an increase to the base instructional grant. So status quo and underfunding is something that has been going on for years, and it's going to take a lot more to dig ourselves out of the hole so that we are actually meeting the needs of our students day in and day out, which my members will say they're not. MH: The government indicates $400 million in the deal to improve classroom conditions, and the government's also committing $8.6 billion to build 90 new schools. So if there's cash there, what's still missing? JS: Well, the $8.6 billion to build new schools is not part of this, that's infrastructure, and those schools aren't going to come online for another three, four, or five years. We need to address the concerns that are happening in our classrooms right now. The class sizes that are increasing, my colleagues are like, 'We've never seen class sizes this big'. We have schools that are teaching classrooms in boot rooms, in hallways, in stages. We don't have the means to meet our students needs day in and day out. We need more resources. So to say that we're going to put this money in when the budget was substantially lower than where it needed to be, we needed to see a budget in 2025 of $11.35 billion to just be the Canadian average. This budget was $910 million short of that target. Just to make us the Canadian average in terms of spending. That's how far behind we are right now. MH: You're in a cooling off period for 14 days. What is the process beyond that? What happens at the end of 14 days? JS: At the end of 14 days, we'll go into a step the association has, which is an authorization for a strike vote. We'll go to our members and we'll say to them, 'Would you like us to proceed forward with the strike vote?' If they vote in favour of that, then that will be the next step after that. MH: So how quick could that come? JS: It could come as soon as the 14 day cooling off period is over, and that started [Thursday]. MH: So that means a strike in 14 days is possible? JS: No it means an authorization for a strike vote and then once you have that, then you go for the strike vote. Then you have other steps there that are laid out, and it's all through labour code. It takes a little bit of time, obviously, but we'll work through the next steps as they come to us. MH: The ATA has roughly 50,000 members. If it is that there is a strike, how do you gauge the impact of that magnitude province wide? What would that look like? Would it be an actual strike? Maybe that is the better question. How could you potentially respond? JS: These decisions will be made by provincial executive council. We'll strategize, and we'll analyze, and we'll look at what our next steps are, but it's not something that I'm going to lay out for the media right now. MH: In terms of possibles, could it be a strike? Could it be teachers refusing to do certain elements day-to-day? JS: Members of council will decide what strategies we use moving forward when it comes to making these decisions. MH: The education minister says the government is prepared should you walk off the job. What do you think that would look like? JS: I was on strike in 2002, I know exactly what that looks like, and I know exactly what it takes, the courage to do that, to step forward into that realm. Our membership made a no on the mediator's recommendation and so they're looking for more from this government. I know the minister will say, 'We'll see what they have to say', but this is a conversation that needs to happen between both parties, and we will have those conversations moving forward willingly. MH: In reviewing some of the coverage this week, you've expressed a willingness to work towards finding an agreement, so where is the process at, and how would you how would you rate the prospects of a successful outcome to avoid a strike? JS: Right now we're in the cooling off period, and so we will take this time to re-evaluate . They can have talks, but I'm not sure if we've got anything on the schedule right now in terms of the next week, but there's always a chance to have talks with both sides through the whole process.
CBC
08-05-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Alberta teachers reject mediator's recommendation, consider strike vote
Social Sharing Teachers in Alberta's public, Catholic and Francophone schools have rejected a mediator's proposal that would have given them an average wage increase of 15 per cent over four years. The offer didn't go far enough to address teachers' concerns about crowded classrooms, packed with a growing numbers of students who have complex and differing needs, said Alberta Teachers' Association (ATA) president Jason Schilling. "Teachers are feeling burned out and frustrated, and they wanted to see more," Schilling told CBC News Wednesday. Of the nearly 36,000 teachers who voted earlier this week, about 62 per cent rebuffed the recommendation, according to the association. The ATA, which has 51,000 members, had recommended members approve the offer. Schilling says including class-size caps in the agreement was part of the ATA's initial proposal to the government. B.C., Quebec, and Ontario are legally obligated to account for class sizes and complexity in teachers' pay. Earlier this year, an arbitrator ruled the next contract for Saskatchewan teachers must account for the number of students with additional needs in their classrooms. The mediator proposed assembling working groups to discuss how schools can tackle an influx of students to the province, as well as growing numbers of English language learners and students diagnosed with a disability or medical condition. Alberta teachers don't want more talking, Schilling said. They want adequate funding for schools, including more teachers and support workers. Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides is disappointed that the teachers rejected the offer, he told reporters at the legislature Wednesday. "We await to hear from teachers about what more it is that they're looking for and [to] see how we can work with them to get a deal done," Nicolaides said. The deal included $400 million to improve classroom conditions, he added. The provincial government has also committed $8.6 billion to the School Construction Accelerator Program, a plan to build 90 new schools across Alberta in the next seven years to help alleviate a space shortage. "I'm confident that we're moving in the right direction," Nicolaides said. Teachers discussing strike authorization vote ATA members are now in a 14-day cooling off period, after which they can vote to apply to the Alberta Labour Relations Board to authorize a strike vote. If that passes, the association says teachers will take a strike vote. Should they vote in favour of a strike, teachers have 120 days in which to take job action. That could involve options such as working to rule, cancelling extracurricular activities, rotating strikes or a walkout. Alberta teachers last walked off the job in 2002. School underfunding and class sizes were flash points in the dispute. During news conference Tuesday, Schilling said it is "very possible" teachers will take job action, but he could not predict when. The threat of disruption comes after a winter of school support worker strikes involving thousands of employees in Edmonton, Calgary, Fort McMurray, and other school divisions. Nicolaides said he hopes the parties can avoid a strike. But he added that the education ministry is planning for that possibility — including the spectre of a teacher walkout when students are scheduled to write provincial standardized exams. Opposition NDP education critic Amanda Chapman was not surprised that teachers dismissed the mediator's recommendation, she told reporters Wednesday. Chapman said teachers have received about a five-per cent salary increase in the last decade, while the cost of living has ballooned. The recommendation also didn't go far enough to address classroom complexity, which many teachers say is a bigger concern than their pay, she said. "Teachers are really not working under conditions that are conducive either for themselves as teaching professionals and for the kids in the classroom," Chapman said.
