{"id":197253,"date":"2025-10-08T10:07:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T10:07:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/197253\/"},"modified":"2025-10-08T10:07:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T10:07:12","slug":"alberta-teachers-look-for-ways-to-make-ends-meet-on-second-day-of-historic-strike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/197253\/","title":{"rendered":"Alberta teachers look for ways to make ends meet on second day of historic strike"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some Alberta teachers are trying to figure out how to make ends meet without their regular paycheque as a provincewide strike entered its second day Tuesday.<\/p>\n

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Adrien Dominguez, a math and science teacher in High Prairie, said he\u2019s considering taking up work in photography, marketing and university tutoring.<\/p>\n

While he has a reserve fund, he said some friends who are teachers aren\u2019t so lucky and are looking at waitressing, bartending or retail jobs.<\/p>\n

A provincewide strike that started Monday with Dominguez and about 51,000 of his colleagues means many are trying to figure out how they\u2019ll make ends meet without a regular paycheque.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know co-workers who lost dual incomes because they\u2019re both teachers,\u201d Dominguez said.<\/p>\n

Some teacher friends are looking at going back to waitressing, bartending and working retail, he added.<\/p>\n

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\u201cDepending how long it goes,\u201d Dominguez said, \u201cI may (resort) to going back to doing photography, marketing and university tutoring.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Click<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t1:49
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tEdmonton families finding alternatives during teacher strike\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The job action by Alberta\u2019s teachers follows a long and nasty standoff between the Alberta Teachers\u2019 Association and the provincial government, mainly over wages and working conditions.<\/p>\n

The government\u2019s latest offer, rejected in a vote by teachers, included a 12 per cent wage increase over four years and hiring 3,000 more teachers to reduce overcrowded classrooms.<\/p>\n

Premier Danielle Smith has said the government\u2019s offer is fair and it\u2019s willing to return to the bargaining table.<\/p>\n

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The strike affects more than 740,000 students across 2,500 public, separate and francophone schools, which closed on Monday.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tWhile teachers will not be receiving strike pay during the labour dispute, the President of the Alberta Teachers Association, says their health benefits will be covered.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tGlobal News\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Jason Foster, a labour relations professor at Athabasca University, said the size of the strike, with 51,000 union members off the job, makes it the largest walkout in provincial history.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere\u2019s nothing that comes even close.\u201d<\/p>\n

The last Alberta teachers\u2019 strike in 2002 involved less than half that number with 21,000 members, he said.<\/p>\n

Union president Jason Schilling has said members won\u2019t receive strike pay, but health benefits would be covered by the union.<\/p>\n

\n\t\tRelated News\n\t<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\tAlberta teachers\u2019 strike: Families face more than just class disruptions\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\u2018Enough is enough\u2019: Alberta Teachers\u2019 Association defends provincewide strike\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cTeachers know that they\u2019re not receiving strike pay,\u201d he said. \u201cThey didn\u2019t take this decision lightly and they\u2019re willing to sacrifice some things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dominguez said he has a reserve fund saved up for such emergencies, but it won\u2019t last long.<\/p>\n

John Varga is in a similar boat.<\/p>\n

He and his wife, both teachers in Calgary, have torn through their garage to pull old bicycles from storage so they can sell them for extra cash.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a tight month,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Varga, who teaches computer science, physics and social studies, said teaching is hard and it\u2019s only getting harder.<\/p>\n

One of his classes has 40 students with a variety of learning disabilities, from ADHD to limited language skills.<\/p>\n

Sometimes top students help their peers because he can\u2019t get to them, he said.<\/p>\n

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The closest thing he can compare it to is a children\u2019s birthday party.<\/p>\n

\u201cImagine that every day,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd then you actually try to do that and teach them something that they may not necessarily see the value in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amy Bartlett is under further pressure.<\/p>\n

The special education teacher in Grande Prairie, Alta., who\u2019s hoping to do some hunting and sell animal skulls for display, said she can\u2019t get another job without securing child care for her two school-aged children.<\/p>\n

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To make matters worse, her husband is being laid off next week from his job in the oil patch.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just going to open my arms to any opportunity,\u201d she said. \u201cI need to help pay my bills.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bartlett, who has been teaching for four years, said the job is taxing.<\/p>\n

With all 21 of her students having mild to moderate learning disabilities, helping them learn is a struggle \u2014 even with three educational assistants in the classroom.<\/p>\n

And they still fall through the cracks, she said.<\/p>\n

But teaching is her passion, Bartlett said, and she doesn\u2019t necessarily want to do anything else.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI love my job,\u201d she said. \u201cI love that I go to work and I come home every day knowing that I made a difference in someone\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut at some points, I have walked in and said, \u2018If I continue to do this, I\u2019m going to crash.’\u201d<\/p>\n

She challenged those in the government to sit in her classroom for a day.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they actually put themselves in the shoes of a student who\u2019s striving to become their best self, they\u2019ll realize that something needs to change.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t2:26
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCalgary students rally outside city hall, say\u00a0they are standing in solidarity with Alberta teachers\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2025 The Canadian Press\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Some Alberta teachers are trying to figure out how to make ends meet without their regular paycheque as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":193767,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64916,49,48,549,44,714],"class_list":{"0":"post-197253","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-canada","8":"tag-alberta-teachers-strike","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-education","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/193767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}