Bargaining path is well travelled

Re: “A lesson for teachers in history,” Editorial, Dec. 13. Alberta’s teachers want to ensure the best conditions are in place for teaching and learning in the province’s schools.

That is why on Nov. 30, after four months of discussions at the tripartite table, teachers proposed a fair and reasonable offer to Premier Alison Redford that would guarantee labour peace in schools for four years.

That proposal addressed the fiscal and stability concerns of government, freezing salary grid increases in the first two years of the agreement and further limiting them to one per cent in year three and three per cent in year four. In return, we sought to reduce the amount of non-instructional work teachers are assigned so we might better concentrate on preparing to meet the needs of students in our ever more complex classrooms.

We are disappointed in the rejection of our proposal by the education minister and the refusal by the premier to intervene. We believe that an opportunity was missed by the government. Unfortunately, provincial discussions have progressed as far as they could and we will have to achieve classroom improvements by focusing on local bargaining.

Alberta’s teachers are well aware of the potential consequences that lie ahead as we bargain with Alberta’s 62 school boards. But local bargaining is the legal and established process for achieving teachers’ collective agreements in Alberta and has worked well for decades.

Teachers want to settle collective agreements through productive negotiations with school boards. If school boards are willing to address our legitimate concerns, then solutions will be found.

Local collective bargaining is a road well travelled and need not be the “perilous path” as the editorial suggested. Carol D. Henderson, president, Alberta Teachers’ Association