Edmonton Public School teachers authorize strike vote, board committed to reaching agreement

Teachers at Edmonton Public Schools have voted 97 per cent in favour of authorizing the Alberta Teachers' Association (ATA) to request a government-supervised strike vote.

The vote came Sunday after a proposal by a third-party mediator to settle local negotiations was rejected.

ATA says 91 per cent of teachers who attended the meeting on Sunday were opposed to the mediator's recommendations.

"The votes from the weekend make it clear that, and quite frankly send a clear message that if the board isn't willing to address these issues, teachers are willing to take a stand," Heather Quinn of the ATA told CTV News Edmonton on Tuesday.

Quinn said the mediator's recommendations didn't offer enough improvements for teachers working in online learning or those teaching summer and night school.

While many concerns that teachers have must be addressed at a provincial bargaining level, Quinn says the board has the power to deal with the concerns of online and summer or night school teachers.

She says online teachers are concerned about class sizes and working hours, while summer school teachers want more recognition for the work they do to teach diploma level courses in 19 days.

"Not recognizing the service that those professionals are providing with appropriate remuneration for the profession is in our mind disrespectful of what they do."

Quinn says teachers are still hopeful for a negotiated settlement and want to get back to the bargaining table to fight for further improvement.

"I think everyone is hoping to avoid a strike at all costs. We know that it would affect students and their learning."

A strike vote is not being scheduled at this time and could not be held until at least two weeks after the mediator "writes out" of the dispute, the ATA says.

Teachers at Edmonton Public Schools have been without a finalized collective agreement since September 2020, according to the ATA.

Edmonton Public Schools employs about 7,000 contracted and substitute teachers.

The last time Edmonton Public Schools teachers went on strike was in 2002.

The board sent a written statement to CTV News about the notice of a potential strike vote.

"While we do not comment about ongoing negotiations, we remain committed to working collaboratively with the teacher’s bargaining committee to reach an agreement," spokesperson Veronica Jubinville wrote.

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Miriam Valdes-Carletti