CALGARY PUBLIC SCHOOL BOARD BY-ELECTION NOVMEBER 99
For background seeGovernment Fires Public School Board Trustees
GOVERNMENT FIRES CALGARY PUBLIC SCHOOL BOARD TRUSTEES AUGUST 1999
Calgary Public School Board Review 1998
CALGARY CATHOLIC TEACHERS SETTLE AFTER BEING LOCKED OUT FOR ONE DAY SEPTEMBER 27 1999
Back to Alberta Education Crisis page
Page design © Copyright 1999 Eugene W. Plawiuk.
Public education supporters are applauding a surge in the number of
candidates coming forward to replace Calgary's dissolved "dysfunctional"
school board.
With 3 1/2 weeks to go before the Nov. 1 nomination deadline, there are 18
candidates who have publicly declared their intention to run for the seven
seats, and several more are expected.
More than 50 people have picked up nomination packages from the City of
Calgary.
Just days before last year's regular election, 11 people had put their names
forward, though there were 17 by the deadline. In 1995, there were 27
candidates.
All the new Calgary Board of Education trustees need is love.
And it's Love they may get, as Rod Love, Premier Ralph Klein's
former right hand man, may throw his hat into the once
tumultuous board of trustee ring.
"I'm thinking about it," said Love, 45, from his southeast home.
If he does run, he'll be seeking a seat in Wards 8 and 9, formerly
held by Judy Tilston, who was embroiled in a bitter note-passing
controversy with several other trustees.
All trustees were suddenly fired last month by Learning Minister
Lyle Oberg, who labelled the board dysfunctional.
At this point, Tilston still hasn't officially said if she'd run or not.
When asked about the possibility of battling Tilston, Love came
as close as he could to signing on the dotted line.
"Some people would like this candidacy, some won't," he said.
Love has two children in public school and says he's unhappy
with the overall education system in Calgary.
"There are concerns with education," he said, adding running for
election on Nov. 9 may be one way to help end Calgary's
education woes.
Love started his political career in 1980 in Calgary, where he
helped organize Klein's bid for mayor.
A shot at becoming a trustee would mark his third foray into
politics as a candidate.
In the late 1980s, he finished third in the running for the federal
Conservative nomination in Calgary.
Then in 1992, Love lost a provincial byelection, finishing third,
even though he spent more money on the campaign than any
other candidate.
By-Election called for November 1999
Gone are the acrimonious debates,
the ideological split and the personal antagonism. In
fact, meetings of the Calgary public school board run so
smoothly these days they last only one hour instead of
the usual three to six.
That's because all motions are passed unanimously since
the seven elected trustees were fired and replaced by
George Cornish, the one-man board.
The retired Calgary city commissioner was handed the
job on Aug. 19, when Alberta Learning Minister Lyle
Oberg canned the all-female "dysfunctional" board
because trustees' personal differences were
irreconcilable.
Alberta's learning minister dismissed the seven-member board of
the problem-plagued Calgary public school system Thursday --
and has called for a byelection likely before year's end.
The former public school board trustee
looks her critic squarely in the eyes.
It's been over three weeks since Learning
Minister Lyle Oberg ended the agony by
disbanding the
"completely dysfunctional" seven-member
board of which she was part.
Lynn Nishimura, banished with her
colleagues by ministerial decree, wants to
talk of the
fiasco and the future.
And grittily, she's chosen
to do it with someone who wrote that Calgarians should, because of the
board's collective failure, make sure
no exiled board member who dared run again in the resulting Nov. 28
Two Calgary public school board trustees say they're seeking legal advice
after being accused in a letter by a public school supporter of skipping
meetings and thus leaving themselves open to removal from office.
...."The allegation is that I'm breaking the law," trustee Danielle Smith, one
of the two trustees identified, said Monday. "I'm not breaking the law."
"I think this is playground politics," added trustee Peggy Anderson, the
second trustee involved.
In a letter faxed Sunday to Premier Ralph Klein, Calgary businessman Donn
Lovett accuses Anderson and Smith of skipping three school board
meetings in a row. Lovett said the School Act provides for removal of anyone
who misses three consecutive regular meetings.
Smith and Anderson said they suspect three political foes -- trustees
Jennifer Pollock, Liz LoVecchio and Judy Tilston -- put Lovett up to the
letter. They said their lawyer is investigating the missed-meeting allegation
and declined further comment until they hear back from him.
There is deep ideological division between rookie trustees Smith and
Anderson, both of whom were elected last October on a conservative
platform, and others including Pollock who have often locked horns with the
provincial government over education funding.
Pollock said, however, that personalities have nothing to do with the
non-attendance issue.
Lovett, campaign manager for the late Liberal MLA Sheldon Chumir in the
1989 election, said the suggestion that he acted as a mouthpiece for
unnamed trustees is nonsense. "I did this on my own accord," he said.
"Nobody needs to tell me to do anything."
Western Catholic Reporter
The unprecedented move by the
Calgary Catholic school board to
lock out its teachers may become
the contract-bargaining weapon of
choice for trustees across the
country, says the past-president of
the Canadian School Boards
Association.
Calgary Herald Editorial.
Calgary Herald Editorial.
"We've reached a memorandum of agreement," said Mike O'Brien, president of Alberta Teachers' Association local 55.
"Teachers will stop their withdrawal of services and it's going to be back to normal."
"We're confident the membership will accept this deal," added O'Brien.
Schools were scheduled to reopen Tuesday. Teachers are to meet Wednesday night at 7 p.m. to vote on the agreement.
Neither side disclosed details of the settlement.
It was the first time in Alberta's history that a board has locked out teachers.
Press Releases and Strike Updates here
Send them an email of Solidarity:ataloc55@cadvision.com
SCHOOLS WILL BE
OPEN TUESDAY,
SEPTEMBER 28, 1999.
Last Updated September 27, 1999, 7:30 PM
A verbal agreement was reached at 6:30
PM. We are currently in the process of
signing a memorandum.
WE EXPECT THAT SCHOOLS WILL BE OPEN ON
TUESDAY.
Calgary Sun Editorial Sept. 28 and letters to the Editor protesting Lock Out
Phone and Fax numbers.
Email: trustees@mail.crcssd1.calgary.ab.ca
Send them a message to get back to the bargaining table
Parents can find out the latest on the contract talks by checking
the board's Internet website, at: www.crcssd1.calgary.ab.ca, or
by calling recorded hotlines.
Those numbers are: (403) 298-1309, 298-1367, 298-1375 and
298-1452.
Government of Alberta News Release
Classes for the city's 43,000 Catholic students were expected
to be cancelled Monday by the first school board lockout in Alberta's history. After
more than 26 hours of gruelling bargaining over the weekend, a Sunday deadline
passed which would have allowed trustees to halt the lockout of 2,600 teachers.
Many parents were expected to be unprepared for the shutdown of 88 schools.
A threatened shutdown of Catholic schools looms larger today as teacher and
board negotiators talked late into Saturday night, looking for a breakthrough to
their contract impasse.
Students, teachers and parents fear the Catholic board-ordered lockout will go
ahead as planned at 8:30 a.m. Monday.
Premier Ralph Klein said Saturday the Alberta cabinet is prepared to review as
early as Tuesday the possibility of a disputes inquiry board to intervene in the
process. The creation of such a board, used to solve a threatened strike by
Calgary public teachers last May, would force a halt to the board lockout or job
action by the teachers for 30 days.
Calgary's Catholic school board officials were hopeful late Saturday night a new contract offer will be
enough to avert a lockout Monday morning.
Teachers locked out
Last-minute talks today, as parents scramble for child care
Last-minute talks are
scheduled for this morning
to avert a lockout Monday
that would shut down
Catholic schools in Calgary
and put 43,000 students
and 2,600 teachers on an
indefinite recess.
The Catholic board of
trustees announced the
first teacher lockout in
Alberta history to break
what it fears are the
harmful effects on students
from the teachers'
3 1/2-week work-to-rule
campaign.
Calgary's Catholic school board and its teachers' union have a Christian responsibility to 43,000 students to
get back to the bargaining table and settle their differences, the city's bishop said Friday.
Fred Henry, who leads a diocese of over 300,000 Catholics in Calgary and southern Alberta, expressed disappointment with
both teachers and trustees.
"I'm not prepared to point at one side as totally at fault," said Henry, who is known for his candid opinions. "I think both sides
have to bear responsibility for the situation we're in and both must exercise responsibility to get us out of this mess."
September 24, 1999
Statement Made by Linda Wellman, Chair, Board of Trustees
An end to the dispute between the city's Catholic teachers and their school
board could hinge on a provincial mediator's proposal that the board offer
guarantees they will continue to pay for substitutes for absent teachers.
"The only way we can resolve the issue of preparation time is through a
guarantee of substitute teachers," said Mike O'Brien, head of the Calgary
Catholic local of the Alberta Teachers' Association. "That would certainly
help the problem."
Board chairwoman Linda Wellman said Tuesday she had not yet seen the
report by mediator Steve Morrison and it would be improper to discuss it
before all trustees had a chance to examine it.
An end to the dispute between the city's Catholic teachers and their school
board could hinge on a provincial mediator's proposal that the board offer
guarantees they will continue to pay for substitutes for absent teachers.
"The only way we can resolve the issue of preparation time is through a
guarantee of substitute teachers," said Mike O'Brien, head of the Calgary
Catholic local of the Alberta Teachers' Association. "That would certainly
help the problem."
Board chairwoman Linda Wellman said Tuesday she had not yet seen the
report by mediator Steve Morrison and it would be improper to discuss it
before all trustees had a chance to examine it.
A mediator will present Catholic teachers and their school board a series of
recommendations next week in a bid to end their labour dispute.
Mediator Steve Morrison will provide written terms of a proposed settlement
by Tuesday.
Teachers will then vote on the mediator's recommendations on Thursday.
"We are cautiously optimistic that the recommended terms will bring an end
to this labour dispute," said board chairwoman Linda Wellman.
Mike O'Brien, head of the Calgary Catholic local of the Alberta Teachers'
Association, said teachers "softened" their stance during negotiations on
Friday by removing the 30-hour work week clause but the board rejected
signing a deal.
The two sides have been at a stalemate over an ATA proposal for the
teachers' formal working week to be limited to 30 hours, with 6.5 hours for
class preparation time. Salary is not an issue.
A work-to-rule campaign by the Catholic school teachers' union is
threatening a long-anticipated trip to southern California for about 90 St.
Mary's High School students.
"We're praying for a settlement . . . this is going down to the wire," St.
Mary's principal Bernie
Bajnok said Tuesday.
The students plan to leave Sept. 23, but work-to-rule guidelines set by the
Catholic local of the Alberta Teachers' Association bans teachers from
taking part in activities occurring 15 minutes before or 15 minutes after
school.
At the last meeting between the two sides Aug. 30, the board presented a
two-year, 7.2-per-cent offer without the 30-hour cap.
At the beginning of school on Sept. 1, the teachers began what they called
a withdrawal of voluntary services, showing up at school 15 minutes before
classes and leaving 15 minutes after.
After teachers rejected the contract offer by an 85-per-cent margin, the
board applied last Friday to the Alberta Labour Relations Board for the
ability to shut down schools and lock out the teachers on 72 hours notice.
Board chairwoman Wellman said Monday the 30-hour cap, included in
current contracts for Calgary public, as well as Edmonton public and
Catholic teachers, would cost the board considerable dollars.
Late Wednesday the Alberta Labour
Relations Board (ALRB) ruled that the ATA's notice
withdrawing voluntary services from the Calgary
Separate School Board was in no way deficient.
The ALRB also refused to issue a cease and desist
order which would have terminated the withdrawal of
voluntary services. The hearing was forced by the
Calgary Separate Board. This board is also pushing
a third application to the ALRB.
Alberta Labour today released the report of the Disputes Inquiry Board (DIB) in the negotiations between the Calgary Public
School Board and the Alberta Teachers’ Association. The parties received copies of the report on May 18, 1999 and have
until May 28 to respond to the report’s recommendations. The complete report of the DIB is available on the Alberta Labour web site
Ministerial Statement Government of Alberta News Release
The Calgary Board of Education's severance package
this year was so popular the board will have to hire new
teachers to replace those leaving.
About 210 senior teachers have taken the voluntary
buyout -- about 70 more positions than administrators
needed to shave from the payroll.
"We will be hiring teachers, no question, on probationary
contracts," Duncan Truscott, the CBE's superintendent
of employee services, said Monday.
n only his second day on the job, Oberg brokered a deal under which
Calgary's public school trustees unanimously ratified a report designed to
settle the long dispute with their teachers on condition the government help
find the money to pay for it.
Teachers, on the job but in limbo pending ratification of a Disputes Inquiry
Board report, heaved a huge sigh of relief and parents -- of whose number
Gray is one -- got a promise of labour peace in the system for three years.
At the end of the day, the solution to a seemingly insoluble and painfully
drawn-out affair all seemed so ridiculously simple.
Alberta's new Learning minister isn't anxious to gain a
reputation as Dr. No, but says he'll have to be convinced
more money is needed for education before he opens the
purse for Calgary schools.
In his first in-depth interview since he was appointed to
head the new ministry combining education and advanced
education, Lyle Oberg said he will have to be satisfied the
$4.5-billion budget is being spent "in the best possible
way" before he will seek new education funding. But the
prospect of having to continually jump to his feet to answer
funding questions in the legislature this fall -- like his predecessor Gary Mar
did this spring -- has no appeal.
"I would hope that we will get education to the point where it won't be an
issue," Oberg said.
The former social services minister got a good start to his job on Friday. The
two-term MLA made the first item on his agenda a resolution of the labour
dispute at the Calgary Board of Education.
Oberg oversaw an 11th-hour deal designed to settle the Calgary public
school board's dispute with its 6,600 teachers. He drew praise from school
trustees by offering help to pay for the three-year deal which brings labour
peace to the public system until 2001.
The Calgary Board of Education and its 6,600 teachers have agreed to end
their contract dispute, thanks to 11th-hour intervention by the new minister
of learning.
In his second day on the job, Lyle Oberg oversaw a deal whereby trustees
unanimously ratified a report designed to settle the dispute, on condition the
government help them find the money to pay for it. Teachers have a
three-year contract, and parents get a promise of labour peace until 2001.
An elated Teresa Woo-Paw, the board chairwoman, praised Oberg on
Friday for showing "a real will" to help the CBE solve its money woes. "We
made great progress today towards that, in meeting with a new minister
who understands our issues and has made a commitment to assist us in
addressing our financial difficulties."
Oberg's predecessor, the new minister of the environment, Gary Mar, last
week advised the CBE against ratifying the report of the Disputes Inquiry
Board, saying it would be too costly.
Oberg denied he had been given different marching orders, saying his
Friday-morning meeting with trustees helped him understand the CBE
position. "It's important to give the system the stability that's needed; let us
worry about the financial matters and let the teachers go back to the
classroom."
The government appointed the DIB April 23, three days before teachers were
to walk off the job, to bridge the gap at the negotiating table. The DIB
recommended teachers get a 9.75-per-cent salary increase over three
years.
It also recommends improved benefits and the retention of the pupil-teacher
ratio, 18.4, that ties teaching jobs to the number of students.
The board had complained it would need an extra $58.6 million over three
years to accept the recommendations -- money it couldn't afford in light of
its predicted $50-million accumulated deficit.
The province has not promised the CBE new cash, insisted Oberg, but extra
funding may come over the summer if he's convinced the board needs it.
The provincial government will reject a plea
by Calgary's public school trustees for more
time to make a decision on a report that
would end the threat of a teachers' strike.
The trustees said Thursday they have
several more questions about the report by
the Disputes Inquiry Board and want an
extension of today's deadline to submit their
reply.
As well, the board wants a chance to meet
with Lyle Oberg, the newly appointed
learning minister.
But Clint Dunford, the new minister of human resources and employment,
said he will reject that request. "They've had enough time to decide. . . ."
The report was issued May 18 and the board had 10 days to respond.
Teachers voted 94.9 per cent in favour Wednesday of accepting the report's
recommendations.
If trustees accept the report today, the dispute is over and teachers have a
contract. If they reject it, Dunford said the ministry would order a secret poll
of trustees, likely Wednesday, to glean their opinions in private.
Teachers have taken the first step toward averting a strike, voting to accept
the recommendations of a Disputes Inquiry Board and settle their contract
dispute with the Calgary Board of Education.
The seven public school board trustees will vote on the report by the
provincial government appointed board today.
If the school board ratifies the report, the terms become binding and the
threat of a strike by Calgary's 6,000 public teachers is averted for at least
another three years. If they reject it, teachers could walk off the job within
weeks.
"The ball is in the trustee's court and I hope they act responsibly," said Earl
Hjelter, representative of the Calgary Public Teachers.
Alberta's education minister is
jeopardizing the collective bargaining process by his
interference in the Calgary public teachers' dispute,
said Alberta Teachers' Association (ATA) president
Bauni Mackay.
Mackay was referring to Gary Mar's comments that
"a prudent board would not accept" the
recommendations of the Disputes Inquiry Board
(DIB). "I find this statement particularly offensive as
he should know better than to directly interfere in the
bargaining process," said Mackay.
Yesterday the ATA and the Calgary Board of
Education were given a copy of the DIB report from
Edmonton lawyer Francis Price. Price was
appointed by Mar's colleague, the minister of labour,
to seek a resolution in the contract dispute between
the Calgary public teachers and their board.
Since it appears unlikely the Calgary Board of Education will accept the
recommendations of the Disputes Inquiry Board released Thursday -- to do
so would be in open defiance of the minister of education -- it's fair to
wonder what was the point of the whole exercise.
Certainly a pragmatic, and by no means unworthy, outcome was the delay
of a teachers' strike for enough weeks to ensure the school year was not
put in jeopardy.
Both parties in this contract dispute -- the CBE and the teachers' union --
might also argue that the conclusion drawn by inquiry board member
Francis Price that the CBE is on the brink of financial disaster adds weight
to their contention that the province must provide more money.
But in reality, it's back to the drawing board.
While there's a real possibility that on Wednesday teachers will vote to
accept Price's suggested settlement, which includes a 9.75-per-cent raise
over three years and retains the current pupil-teacher ratio (PTR) of 18.6,
Education Minister Gary Mar has warned that the board simply doesn't have
-- and won't get -- the money needed to accept these terms.
Mar has outrightly rejected Price's report as "very disappointing" and
continues to insist the CBE is adequately financed. It's hard to imagine the
board would ignore Mar and vote to accept an agreement that would put it in
even more of a deficit position than it is now -- $50 million in debt and
counting.
f the Calgary Board of Education follows through on its
budgetary promise to lay off about 240 teachers, the
teachers' union says it will likely respond with a legal
challenge.
The board is bound by a letter of understanding it signed
with the union in December 1997 to keep the pupil-teacher
ratio (PTR) in effect for three years, says the president of
the Calgary public teachers local of the Alberta Teachers'
Association.
"(The PTR) is the only thing that guarantees that there will be a minimum of
teachers in classrooms to deliver the education program," Kurt Moench said
Wednesday.
The letter stipulates there must be at least one employee with a teaching
certificate for every 18.4 students.
But the budget which trustees passed Tuesday night would leave them
about 200 "certificated" staff members short, if student enrolment meets
expectations.
According to teachers, the budget announced Tuesday means layoffs for
287 certificated staff. The final number won't be known until the beginning of
the next school year.
The Calgary Board of Education is "on the brink of financial disaster"
because of underfunding, according to an independent review of the board's
labour dispute with teachers.
The 61-page Disputes Inquiry Board report by Edmonton lawyer Francis
Price says evidence from both parties confirms there is not enough funding
for the city's 222 public schools.
"The government has gone on record as wanting to put more teachers in
front of students, but without new funding, the very opposite will happen,"
Price wrote in the report, made public Thursday.
"Looking at the budget and financial statements presented to me, the CBE
appears to be on the verge of financial disaster."
In his report, commissioned by the province last month just as teachers
were on the brink of a strike, Price said teachers should get a 9.75-per-cent
raise over three years and keep the pupil-teacher ratio, or PTR, which ties
the number of teaching jobs to the number of students.
In its last contract offer, the CBE wanted to eliminate the pupil-teacher ratio,
currently set at 18.6, in favour of a class-size cap of 26 students in
elementary schools, 28 in junior highs and 30 in high schools.
The cap would keep class sizes low but allow the board more flexibility in
layoffs, trustees said.
Education Minister Gary Mar insists the CBE has enough money, and he
blames the pupil-teacher ratio for protecting union jobs at the expense of
financial health.
Mudry's concerns highlight the mounting tension in Alberta labour relations,
with 6,600 Calgary public teachers poised to strike and more than 16,000
provincial nurses in mediation following a bargaining impasse.
The recent labour-management struggles reflect an increasing number of
disputes over the past five years, with 19 strikes or lockouts in 1997-98
compared to 10 in 1995-96, according to government figures.
Audrey Cormack, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour, isn't
surprised by the increase in job action. When Alberta's public-sector
workers took a voluntary five-per-cent wage rollback in the mid-1990s to help
the government balance its budget, those workers expected to reap the
benefits of an improved economy, Cormack says.
"There is more job action right now because we're coming out of a period of
a lot of cutbacks and into a period where the economy is doing very well,"
she notes.
Daphne Taras, an industrial relations professor at the University of Calgary,
agrees the five-per-cent wage rollback created a unique labour situation in
Alberta.
"It resulted in many years of very flat bargaining," she says, citing wage
increases of one, two and three per cent annually.
New Democrat Leader Pam Barrett called on Premier Ralph Klein to reassure Alberta's teachers that the Conservative
government will not revoke their right to strike. "While these kinds of loopy notions always seem to pop up at Tory party policy
gatherings," she said, "I remind the Premier that just last December his own caucus voted overwhelmingly against a private
member's bill (Bill 219) that would have removed teachers' right to strike."
In a recorded vote, only Calgary backbencher Jocelyn Burgener voted to remove the teachers' right to strike. All other Tory
caucus members joined the opposition in voting against Bill 219. Eleven Cabinet ministers, including the Ministers of Education,
Labour, Advanced Education and Health, and 36 backbenchers, joined opposition members in voting against this regressive
legislation.
Barrett said the only thing that's changed since last December is that the Tories are now facing the wrath of teachers, parents,
and students in their own Calgary backyard. She said that removing the right to strike is stupid and unfair
While concern rises about a teachers strike in the Calgary Public School Board, Raj Pannu, the New Democrat Education
spokesperson, highlighted financial troubles in the Calgary Catholic School Board. In order to prevent expenditures from
exceeding a budgeted deficit, the Calgary Catholic School Board is being forced to undertake draconian and unfair measures,
charged Pannu.
New Democrat Leader Pam Barrett highlighted the desperate situation faced by the public school boards in Calgary and
Edmonton which, if not addressed, will see class sizes shoot up dramatically next fall.
Figures provided by Calgary Public Teachers (CPT) and the Calgary Board of Education (CBE) show the no-win situation
faced by Calgary school children as a result of the Conservative government's fiscal policies. In the past five years the number
of teachers in CBE schools has dropped by 2.2 per cent. Meanwhile, the number of students has gone up 5.5 per cent. If
special needs students are included, the percentage increase is over 6 per cent, going from 91,048 students in 1992 to 97,047
in 1998.
Teachers voted to reject the CBE's latest contract proposal because it would have meant a further reduction of 200-300
teachers next fall when student enrolment is expected to increase by a further 2 per cent. The CBE is facing a $20 million
shortfall this year on top of an accumulated operating deficit of $34.6 million.
Last night, Edmonton Public Schools passed a budget which will see class sizes going up and staff cuts in that city as well.
Barrett said that the Premier's comments yesterday about legislating Calgary teachers back to work before they have even
taken job action further inflame the situation in Calgary. "The Premier's comments are not helpful given that provincial
government policies are responsible for the crises faced by the two big city school boards," she remarked.
"The Premier keeps asking 'how much is enough?'" said Barrett. "Instead of directing this question to opposition politicians, the
Premier should ask teachers, students, parents, and school boards," she said. She suggested the Premier sit down with the two
big city boards to address this looming crisis.
New Democrat Education Spokesperson Raj Pannu contrasted the underfunding of Calgary public schools with the Provincial
Treasurer's willingness to give tax breaks to high income Albertans.
Nearly a thousand public teachers marched in an unbroken line around the
seat of the provincial government in Calgary Tuesday in their first organized
protest against the premier's handling of their labour dispute.
On what would have been the second day of their strike -- cancelled by
government fiat -- teachers waved placards as they marched around the
government's Calgary offices.
One sign even accused Premier Ralph Klein and Education Minister Gary
Mar of "educide," or crimes against education.
Premier Ralph Klein is downplaying any suggestion that his government is
considering taking away from teachers the right to strike.
While the idea was proposed at a weekend Conservative policy conference,
Klein said Monday he doubts any member of his caucus will bring forth
legislation declaring teachers an essential service.
"There are no plans, at this time anyway, to discuss it by this government,"
Klein told the legislature.
Klein's comments appeared to be a marked change from his position on
Sunday.
The Alberta government caucus will debate whether to remove teachers' right
to strike following pressure from grassroots Conservative party members and
the general public, Premier Ralph Klein said Sunday.
Klein said the issue has been placed on the caucus agenda by delegates at a
weekend Conservative policy conference in Edmonton who recommended
the government declare workers in both health and education an essential
service, which would make strikes illegal.
"Many people talk about teachers being essential -- absolutely essential,"
Klein explained.
"The tone is that we should be considering legislation to make teachers part of
the essential service package."
The move would put teachers on a par with firefighters, police officers and
some nurses, who have the right to bargain collectively but are not permitted
to walk out on a legal strike.
A teachers' strike in Calgary was narrowly averted Friday after Labour
Minister Murray Smith intervened by invoking a rarely used section of the
Labour Code and ordering an inquiry into the dispute.
The move by Smith means it could be mid-June before a strike commences.
Alberta teachers are disappointed with the
announcement that the labour department has
established a one-man Disputes Inquiry Board (DIB) to
become involved in the labour dispute between the
Calgary Public teachers and the Calgary Board of
Education, says Alberta Teachers' Association
President Bauni Mackay.
Mackay was referring to a board of inquiry provided for
under the Labour Relations Code, which will investigate
the current labour dispute. "This announcement
amounts to nothing more than bailing out Education
Minister Gary Mar from a serious situation where he
may have actually had to be answerable to the public,"
said Mackay.
Mackay noted that the announcement of the DIB has
relieved the education minister of two of his
responsibilities. "Mr Mar is relieved of answering
questions about the real problem--inadequate education
funding," said Mackay. "He is also relieved of the
responsibilities he would have had to the public if a
strike had commenced."
Mackay said that teachers will obey the law, but she
also noted that this DIB is just reinventing the wheel.
"The Disputes Inquiry Board is just going to repeat what
the provincially appointed mediator Dale Simpson had
spent months doing," she said. "Mr Simpson has been
involved with the two parties since December, and he
was unable to resolve the dispute. The DIB will simply
repeat that process, bringing everyone back to where
they started."
Calgary public school's 6,600 teachers have
started the clock ticking toward a strike
deadline that could see 98,000 students out
of classrooms by Monday morning.
Seven hours of last-ditch talks Wednesday
failed to break a stalemate between the Calgary Board of Education and the
Alberta Teachers' Association local.
The union served notice late Wednesday that teachers will walk off the job
Monday morning. Union president Kurt Moench said he hopes there will be
more talks over the weekend.
But board chairwoman Teresa Woo-Paw said it will immediately begin
winding down operations.
Students will be asked to clear classrooms and lockers of all personal
belongings starting today. And within days, layoff notices will go out to 800
maintenance workers and caretakers, and 2,000 support staff, such as
teacher aides and secretaries.
Calgary's 6,600 public
teachers could be off the
job within a week after
voting 94 per cent to reject
the school board's latest
contract offer.
"We are truly in the 11th
hour of the dispute," Kurt
Moench, president of
Calgary Public Teachers,
said Sunday.
Of the 4,466 teachers who
cast ballots, 4,200 voted
against the deal, and 258
voted in favour. There were
eight spoiled ballots.
The two sides will try one
more negotiating session
on Wednesday. If it fails,
the union has hinted
strongly it will issue 72
hours' strike notice,
throwing Calgary's 98,000 public students out of school and threatening the
rest of their academic year.
"The next step for teachers is job action on April 26th if there's no change"
in the board's offer, Moench said.
The government's
$600-million boost in
education funding has likely
saved hundreds of jobs and
may even prevent strikes by
teachers, say Calgary
school officials.
The sooner the Calgary Board of Education faces the music over
inner-city school closures the better.
Granted, shutting the doors to the dozen or so downtown schools that
are severely underutilized will be divisive, unpopular and agonizing.
Schools are an integral part of any community and Calgary's attempts to
keep the core vital by encouraging pockets of inner-city residential
development will be undermined by the board's actions.
Calgary public teachers are in no mood to trade increased class sizes and
layoffs for a wage hike, the local president of the Alberta Teachers'
Association said Saturday.
"I don't think that teachers are willing to sacrifice one for the other," said
Kurt Moench.
Teachers and the school board are attempting to fend off a strike or job
action by the district's 5,100 teachers.
But the public board's last offer -- rejected by 99.5 per cent of the 1,535
teachers who voted -- proposed no increase in salaries, allowances or
benefits, Moench said.
The board told teachers that if they want wage increases
A $50,000 advertising blitz by Calgary's public teachers is drawing criticism at
a time when teachers are clamoring for more funds.
The newspaper and radio ad campaign, which ran from Sept. 26 to Oct. 4,
called on Calgarians upset about education funding to telephone Education
Minister Gary Mar or local MLAs to voice their concerns.
Calgary's public school district could face more job action
by its 5,100 teachers if they don't sign a new contract by
December, according to a new report.
If negotiations aren't resolved by a Nov. 24 teachers'
meeting at the Jubilee Auditorium, "teachers will be asked to
consider options including possible job action," says a
memo from Local 38 of the Alberta Teachers' Association.
The head of Calgary's largest parents' group said: "That's
alarming to parents.
Produced By Volunteer Union Labour
IU560
Contents are © Copyright the individual authors, or original sources that have been linked.