Alberta’s teachers union has filed a legal challenge to the provincial government’s back-to-work legislation that brought a three-week teachers strike to an end.
The teachers strike started on Oct. 6 after talks broke down between the Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) and the Teachers’ Employer Bargaining Association (TEBA), which bargains on behalf of school boards. Teachers said they were looking for a salary increase, and wanted the province to address “classroom complexity” issues.
Premier Danielle Smith’s government passed Bill 2, the Back to School Act, on Oct. 28, legislation that forced teachers back to the classroom, and imposed a collective bargaining agreement initially put forward by the province and the union, which had been rejected by teachers in a vote. The government invoked the notwithstanding clause to prevent legal challenges from blocking the legislation….