Last week, Alberta teachers voted down a contract presented by their leadership with a massive majority of 89 per cent. This overwhelming vote by Alberta’s 51,000 teachers will kick off strike action on Oct. 6.
This is the second time teachers rejected a contract this year. Back in May, teachers rejected a rotten contract whose main feature was a 12 per cent wage increase over four years.
The following month, teachers voted 95 per cent in favour of strike action. The Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) leadership finally announced a strike date—Oct. 6—but then last week presented a new contract.
Scandalously, this new contract was almost identical to the previous contract. The only difference was the promise to hire 1,000 more teachers per year. But teachers see this as insufficient, because it does not guarantee a reduction in class sizes. Thus, teachers were being told to accept virtually the same contract they had just rejected.
When the leadership presented the second contract, one teacher posted a meme that read: “I don’t always roll over in contract negotiations… but when I do it’s after a 95 per cent strike vote.” There’s obviously a mood to fight for more.
It’s easy to understand why teachers have overwhelmingly voted down these deals. Neither will do anything to recover from a decade of wage erosion. Alberta teachers used to be the highest paid in the country and are now the second lowest. Meanwhile, 12 per cent over four years is about level with the inflation rate.
Crisis in schools
Alberta schools are breaking under the strain of underfunding, with working and learning conditions at rock bottom. Classroom sizes have ballooned, teachers are overworked, and students are learning less.
Dozens of schools have had to replace their libraries or gyms with classrooms. Lacking support staff, many teachers even face significant violence like bites and fecal smearing.
All this is the result of UCP government austerity. Alberta spends the least per student of any province, falling from the third highest in the last 12 years.
Strike to win
Last fall teachers voted on the demands that they thought would best address the problems they face: a 34 per cent pay raise and drastic improvements in working conditions such as more paid prep time and class size caps.
There is no reason to back away from these demands and accept a rotten deal from Smith. What is needed is to stick to our guns and mobilize for an all-out strike!
Instead of recommending sellout deals, we need the leadership to organize the membership. Until now, the leaders have kept the teachers in the dark about the union’s plans. The opposite should be true. The more the members understand how they are going to fight for their interests, the more they will have the conviction and will to fight.
The leadership must prepare an all-out struggle. The ATA has rightly explained that work-to-rule and rotating strikes are not powerful enough to win. We need to strike all together and shut down schools, and defy any undemocratic back-to-work orders. This is the only way to force the government to concede.
Further, we can count on public support. Every working Albertan recognizes how bad schools are getting. Teachers are very highly trusted, and if we say that kids can’t learn in these conditions, then parents will support us.
Students are on our side too. Hundreds of students in Edmonton even walked out in support of their teachers. Another walkout is being planned in Calgary, by a high school student who was shut down at an Alberta Next panel (and threatened with a spanking by the moderator!) for asking why the government gives private schools $461 million yearly.
With this support, and militant tactics, teachers can fight and win, and show to every other union in the province what can be won with a determined struggle.
Lots of workers are in the same boat: this type of contract rejection has become commonplace. HSAA workers recently voted down their tentative agreement with Alberta Health Services. Air Canada flight attendants voted 99.1 per cent against the rotten deal agreed with Air Canada after one day of strike action.
If Alberta teachers launch a militant strike against the UCP government, this could serve as a rallying point for all those upset with Smith and her corporate backers. If the teachers succeed in winning, this can set the tone for all future struggles.
It’s clear that the working class wants a fight. We have a chance to set an example.
