Former ATA lead negotiator gives insight into strike negotiations

Teacher and former lead negotiator for the ATA Peter Mackay joined CTV Your Morning Edmonton with his insight on bargaining teams going back to the table.

Bargaining teams for Alberta teachers and the government are heading back to the table to try and hammer out a deal. Peter Mackay, a teacher from Grande Prairie and former lead negotiator for the Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA), spoke with Brenden Purdy on CTV Your Morning Edmonton with his insight into the situation.

This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

Brenden Purdy: You’re no longer negotiating on behalf of the ATA but as a teacher watching the strike enter its second week, how far apart do you believe both sides still are?

Peter Mackay: The last thing we have to reference is the vote that the teachers took where 89.5 per cent voted “No.” That would indicate that there was a pretty big gulf between the teachers and what was in that memorandum of agreement. I think there’s work to do for sure.

Brenden: What work would it take for teachers to agree to a deal?

Peter: At this point, given that almost 90 per cent of what we’re really looking for and what is necessary, is the government’s going to have to step up with something new. We heard an awful lot from teachers about what they voted on last spring, in September, and those two things weren’t really far apart at all. They felt that the government needed to step up and make a greater investment into education. It’s not so much the bargainers at the table. It’s the folks behind the bargainers on the government side who need to step up and do what’s necessary in order to get a deal and get everyone back to work.

Brenden: Once there’s a tentative deal in place, how soon could we see students return to the classroom?

Peter: You’d have to talk to those folks and it’s very difficult to speculate what they could agree on in that sense. But if they agreed to it, things could happen pretty quickly. There’s so many moving parts there. They are in a situation that’s a little odd because teachers have voted “No” now twice. Once to a mediator’s recommended terms, which is basically a type of deal and then to a memorandum of agreement. They’d have to be pretty sure that what they have is going to meet the approval of teachers.

Brenden: The premier has said there’s been a disconnect between the ATA negotiators and what teachers want. What is your reaction to that statement?

Peter: The real disconnect seems to be between this government and what’s going on in schools. That’s the disconnect, that’s the problem here. Alberta was running multi-billion dollar surpluses and was funding Alberta’s education system at the lowest level in the country on a per-student basis. Well, that had a terrible effect on our classrooms. Somehow it doesn’t seem to have penetrated these folks. The big issues that are remaining, as I understand it, are additional hiring, perhaps pupil-teacher ratios, class size caps, or to change the working conditions. But the other element is salary and the fact is, you can’t solve one without solving the other. If you’re going to attract more teachers, any of those solutions to class size or class conditions, it’s going to need more teachers. You can’t attract more teachers without a more competitive salary and right now, Alberta is not competitive.