{"id":200518,"date":"2025-10-09T16:26:16","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T16:26:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/200518\/"},"modified":"2025-10-09T16:26:16","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T16:26:16","slug":"labour-expert-questions-why-alberta-government-delayed-lockout-of-teachers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/200518\/","title":{"rendered":"Labour expert questions why Alberta government delayed lockout of teachers"},"content":{"rendered":"

As an\u00a0Alberta-wide teachers strike drags into its fourth day, a labour relations expert doesn\u2019t see why the group in charge of bargaining delayed their lockout.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, the Teachers\u2019 Employer Bargaining Association, or TEBA, notified the\u00a0Alberta\u00a0Teachers\u2019 Association that a lockout would begin later Thursday.<\/p>\n

Jason Foster, a labour relations professor at Athabasca University, said the move, which he called \u201cunusual,\u201d effectively stops teachers from changing how they strike, taking options like rotating job action off the table.<\/p>\n

It also means school boards would now have the option to start laying off workers, such as educational assistants and custodians, who have been working since the strike began Monday, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat would be the second major impact of this coming into effect,\u201d Foster said Wednesday.<\/p>\n

He also said TEBA\u2019s delay in issuing the lockout made him furrow his brow.<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

\u201cThey had plenty of notice,\u201d he said. \u201cThey could have easily issued their lockout notice to align with the strike deadline, so I\u2019m not sure why they didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\t\t\t\t\tGet breaking National news<\/p>\n

For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.<\/p>\n

In a statement, bargaining association chair Scott McCormack said the rotating strikes by educational assistants earlier this year created \u201ctremendous uncertainty,\u201d and a lockout makes sure that doesn\u2019t happen again.<\/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\t2:15
\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\tDay 3 of first teacher strike in Alberta since 2002 \u2014 has anything changed?\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The job action by 51,000\u00a0Alberta\u00a0teachers \u2014 considered the largest walkout in provincial history \u2014 stems from a dispute with Premier Danielle Smith\u2019s government over long-standing concerns, such as wages, overcrowded classrooms and student complexities.<\/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.<\/p>\n

The strike affects more than 740,000 students across 2,500 schools.<\/p>\n

\n\t\tTrending Now\n\t<\/p>\n

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

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

\n\t\t\t\t\tUniversity of Alberta professor reinstated after put on leave over Charlie Kirk social media posts\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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

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

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

\n\t\t\t\t\t\u2018I\u2019m not ready to die yet\u2019: Dolly Parton breaks silence on illness rumours\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

Jason Schilling, president of the\u00a0Alberta\u00a0Teachers\u2019 Association, has said classrooms have been decimated by what he has called chronic underfunding by the province. Smith has said in order to restart negotiations, teachers have to come back with a proposal they approve of.<\/p>\n

Foster said there are remarkable parallels between the current job action and the last time teachers went on strike in 2002, noting how the main issues remain the same.<\/p>\n

He doesn\u2019t see the job action ending quickly through a deal and expects the government will inevitably order teachers back to work.<\/p>\n

But doing so is dangerous, he said, because a back-to-work order wouldn\u2019t resolve the underlying conflict with teachers and could hurt any political popularity the government has with the Albertans supporting them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat may come back to hurt the government politically quite significantly,\u201d he said.<\/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\t1:51
\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\tAlberta teachers go on strike as Smith urges return to bargaining table\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":"As an\u00a0Alberta-wide teachers strike drags into its fourth day, a labour relations expert doesn\u2019t see why the group…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":200519,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[74535,49,48,549,44],"class_list":{"0":"post-200518","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-canada","8":"tag-alberta-teachers","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-education","12":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200518","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=200518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200518\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/200519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}