Alberta, teachers to return to bargaining table next week

The Alberta Teachers' Association says it will return to the bargaining table on Tuesday.

The union representing Alberta teachers says bargaining will resume on Tuesday.

“The exploratory discussions that took place since last Friday helped in the development of further negotiations,” the Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) wrote in a news release on Thursday.

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“The Alberta Teachers’ Association has initiated a formal bargaining meeting with the Teachers’ Employer Bargaining Association and the mediator on Tuesday, Oct. 14. We are unable to provide further details.”

Thursday marked day four of job action by ATA members, about 51,000 teachers and school administrators.

In a Thursday interview with CTV News Edmonton, ATA president Jason Schilling referred to the meeting as a chance to “clean the slate” as past formal mediation attempts had been rejected.

“Parents should take this as a good sign that we’re having conversations,” he said.

The Teachers’ Employer Bargaining Association issued a lockout notice for ATA members on Monday. The lockout was in effect as of Thursday at 1 p.m. and prevents teachers from options like rotating job action.

Finance Minister Nate Horner said the ATA had “finally responded” to TEBA’s invitation to return to the bargaining table and formal talks would involve a mediator.

“Alberta’s government is hopeful that ATA’s proposal to TEBA is reasonable, fair, and adequately represents the terms that teachers want to see reflected in their deal,” said an emailed statement on Thursday.

A lockout, Schilling said, also means teachers would lose their strike mandate should they decide to return to the classroom in the event of a tentative agreement.

“So we’ll have to see if we can negotiate a settlement if there’s a vote,” he said.

“We need to ensure that we have member information meetings so that they understand what it’s all about, what they’re voting for … but we would try to facilitate that as quickly as possible.”

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Nahreman Issa

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