MINISTER TO KEEP EYE ON TEACHER TALKS
Minister wants lead time on potential deals
Alberta’s Education minister will be keeping close tabs on local teacher labour talks, telling school boards he wants to see details of proposed agreements — and their costs — at least 10 days before any contracts are ratified.
Minister Jeff Johnson outlined the requirements in a mid-December email to school board chairs, a move that has rankled the teachers union.
It came as the province painted a bleak picture of its own finances, coupled with a warning that school jurisdictions should be prudent in negotiations.
A collective agreement signed by one school board could affect dozens of other Alberta school jurisdictions. The minister’s letter suggests the province wants to keep tabs on local bargaining.
The minister’s request has upset the Alberta Teachers’ Association which argues the province has no right to get involved in local negotiations.
Provincewide teacher talks collapsed last month, and all deal-making on everything from teacher salaries to workload issues is now scattered across 60 school boards and their local unions.
“(The minister) just wants to make sure that he’s aware as boards move forward in their negotiations, because one agreement could have an impact on every agreement in the province,” education department spokeswoman Leanne Niblock said.
Niblock said she couldn’t speculate on whether Johnson would step in to stop a deal he didn’t like. The minister was not available Friday.
In his letter, Johnson said at least 10 days prior to ratification he wants the terms and conditions of proposed agreements, detailed costs of pay increases and “all other enhancements and how they will be funded.”
The email has drawn the ire of the ATA, which is accusing the minister of inserting himself into bargaining between individual school boards and their unions.
A collective agreement is signed between a school board and its local union.
In the letter to the minister, ATA president Carol Henderson calls it “unusual” and “not appropriate” for the minister “to be providing specific direction to school boards regarding their bargaining or settlement positions. “We would consider it bordering on interference,” Henderson said in an interview. “I don’t know how this is going to roll out, but they have absolutely no role in local bargaining.”
Attempts to forge a provincewide umbrella deal on certain major issues fell apart last month, and all bargaining is back in the hands of individual school boards and their local unions.