More than 51,000 teachers in Alberta will strike starting Oct. 6 if an agreement is not reached before then. It comes after months of stalled negotiations with the province, said Jason Schilling, president of the Alberta Teachers’ Association.
“Students are being shortchanged and our teachers are being pushed to the brink. Without bold, immediate and sustained intervention from the government, the situation will deteriorate further,” Schilling said Wednesday.
“The time of half measures and political deflection is over. Our kids deserve better and so do the people who teach them.”
At an unrelated news conference, Premier Danielle Smith told reporters that she was disappointed to hear that teachers are planning to strike, as she thought they were making progress.
She said the government has the ability to give a 12 per cent pay raise over the course of four years.
More to come.
