ATA President, Carol Henderson

The wheels are turning in formulating a province-wide blueprint that will be the foundation for a teachers' new collective agreement.

Talks between the province, the Alberta Teachers’ Association and the Alberta School Boards Association will focus on wages, the length of the deal, workload, dispute resolution and myriad other proposals.

A heavy emphasis could be placed on how many hours teachers work. The union argues teachers are being burdened with too many duties that have little to do with the classroom, but school boards worry about the financial implications.

The president of the Alberta Teachers Association, Carol Henderson, says teachers are not taking issue with the quality of their profession; rather, it's more about the amount of time they're having to put in.

That said, Henderson quickly acknowledges the number of hours other Albertans devote to their jobs, but says young teachers won't be compelled to stay in the field unless the issue is addressed.

The current agreement between the province and its approximately 36,000 teachers terminates at the end of August. It was signed by then Premier Ed Stelmach and brought with it five years of labour peace.

It was also expensive: the province covered a $2.2-billion shortfall in teachers’ pension plans and also attached pay increases to the Alberta average weekly earnings.

With that agreement coming to an end, ATA locals and their school boards have been negotiating on their own. Some have hit obstacles already. ATA local 35 has taken Rocky View Schools to the Alberta Labour Board, with an accusation of bargaining in bad faith and unfair labour practices. The dispute is from a decision made by the school board to publicly release the proposals from each side after their first meeting together.

The union was upset, saying sensitive negotiations are best done in private. The Rocky View school board countered by insisting it informed the union ahead of time, and was simply maintaining its mandate for public transparency.

The ATA president says, at this time, they're ready to get down to meaningful talks to form the new agreement.

Superintendent of Rocky View Schools, Greg Bass chose not to speculate on what could transpire between now and the end of October when the agreement is hoped to be reached.