09-05-2025
'A system in crisis': What you need to know about possible Calgary teacher strike
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The proposed terms included a 12 per cent general wage increase over four years, benefit improvements, a new provincewide pay grid, increases in northern allowance and up to a 20 per cent pay increase for substitute teachers, according to a statement from Finance Minister Nate Horner.
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The province also offered a new classroom improvement initiative, with a $125-million investment scheduled to begin in the 2025-26 school year.
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'This agreement would have provided $405 million in new classroom improvements that teachers would have had input on,' Horner said in an email on Tuesday.
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'I am disappointed that the Alberta Teachers' Association members did not accept the mediator's recommendation for a four-year central agreement. I hope the ATA will soon return to the bargaining table so that we can continue to work toward the best deal for students, families and parents.'
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'That's fine if (Horner) is disappointed,' Schilling said. 'Teachers have clearly spoken and given us direction on the way that they want to go.
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'The status quo is not good enough. Being the least funded in Canada is just simply not good enough,' he said. 'We have students who are falling through the cracks. We have students whose needs are not being met on a daily basis, and teachers who are burning out trying to do all of the things that are being asked of them. We need to get back to the negotiating table and see if we can find a path forward.'
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Schilling said the ATA will work with the provincial executive council and its members for a strategy. 'It is very possible that we will see job action by teachers in the future. Now, when that timeline looks like will be hard to say,' he told Postmedia on Tuesday. 'It could include anything from action in June to the beginning of the next school year.'
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