Photo source: Alberta Government LIVE Stream
The Alberta Government announced today that a deal with the Alberta Teachers Association hasn’t been reached.
The majority K -12 schools across the province have been getting ready to welcome their students, but as negotiations between the Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) and the Alberta Government are no longer at the table.
The two have been negotiating a new deal throughout the summer, and as a new deal hasn’t been agreed upon, the ATA is now in a legal strike position.
In a press conference early morning on Friday, August 29, Alberta Minister of Education Demetrios Nicolaides said he’s disheartened by the ATA’s rejection of the proposed deal.
The deal proposed to the ATA on August 26, included an increase in salaries by 12 per cent over the next four years, along with a 95 per cent improvement for ATA members and the hiring of three thousand new staff over the next three years.
At the time of this report, the ATA has not issued a strike notice or response to the Alberta Government.
Today’s announcement was also joined by Alberta Finance Minister Nate Homer, stating that the province is forecasting a $6.5 billion deficit, which is the first deficit the province has faced in the past five years.
The deficit is 1.4 billion more than what was projected in the budget 2025 back in February.
Later in the afternoon of Friday, August 29, the ATA held a press conference in Edmonton in response to the Alberta Government’s announcement.
ATA President Jason Schilling stated that Alberta teachers have only seen an increase in pay by 5.75 per cent in the last 10 years and that the new staffing commitment is a drop in the bucket to address the large classroom sizes.
Schilling also stated during the question period of the press conference that there is no planned strike taking place after the August long Weekend.
See the full ATA response here.
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