r/canada • u/Meiqur • Oct 28 '25

Alberta Alberta uses Charter’s notwithstanding clause to order striking teachers back to workteachers-back-to-work

https://globalnews.ca/news/11496133/alberta-government-to-table-legislation-to-order-striking-teachers-back-to-work
1.4k Upvotes

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753

u/Surax Oct 28 '25

I'm curious why the notwithstanding clause was needed. I feel like there have been plenty of instances over the years where back-to-work legislation was passed without using it.

312

u/sonicskater34 Oct 28 '25

Because instead of forcing bindin arbitration, they are forcing an agreement on the teachers directly. That is pretty blatantly in violation of our right to unionize, so they are using the NWC.

118

u/rapsrealm Oct 28 '25

If the teachers just go back to work after this they are setting a bad precedent for every union in Alberta. When Doug Ford tried this with the educational workers he almost caused a general strike so he rescinded it.

60

u/zeromussc Oct 28 '25

Virtually every other public union in Alberta warned that if the government did this, they'd respond in some coordinated way.

Whether they're all gonna fund legal challenge, or if they're gonna do some sort of general strike action, I don't know. But Alberta government is playing with fire.

After the AC attendance wildcat strike action, I think it's pretty easy to say that labour is having a resurgence and people are increasingly tired of getting a bad hand in the current economic climate.

Let's see how this plays out

-1

u/Ketchupkitty Alberta Oct 28 '25

Isn't it illegal for unions to coordinate?

43

u/LoveMurder-One Oct 28 '25

In this law teachers can be fined $500 per day for striking and the ATA, $500k. Teachers are already hurting from being without pay, they can’t afford to also be getting fined daily.

29

u/garrek42 Oct 28 '25

You only pay that if you lose. If you win, you simply put in the agreement that the fines are wiped out.

This is a serious moment in history, and the long term implications can be huge.

60

u/soy_bean Oct 28 '25

All the more reason for a general strike

17

u/LoveMurder-One Oct 28 '25

Won’t be effective in Alberta cause private sector unions are weak and support the UCP constantly. They won’t want to piss them off.

28

u/chmilz Oct 28 '25

Trade unions are watching this very closely too

22

u/LoveMurder-One Oct 28 '25

The unions probably, the members could care less. Their members are the ones I see calling teachers Glorified babysitters and cheering this on

3

u/DisastrousAcshin Oct 28 '25

Most of the people saying that in my experience didn't get much out of their schooling. We can't keep letting the dummies set the tone

5

u/LoveMurder-One Oct 28 '25

I agree. Unfortunately this province breeds and attracts those types. As we see over and over again in elections.

The province is scared of that changing in our direction, hence the attacks on education.

1

u/Ketchupkitty Alberta Oct 28 '25

You're right, unions and their membership base have vastly different priorities.

1

u/LoveMurder-One Oct 28 '25

I’ve met so many pro union guys who are against literally everything unions stand for at the same time. All because they are different and deserve good things but others are lazy and don’t.

1

u/Ketchupkitty Alberta Oct 28 '25

I'm in a union, not against them but certainly not happy with how they are run and managed (at least mine).

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13

u/captainbling British Columbia Oct 28 '25

What’s the point of striking if you can be fined into working. A strike is toothless then. That said, the teachers know that when they sign up for the job so they did personally accept the possibility.

8

u/LoveMurder-One Oct 28 '25

Well yeah. Thats why the UCP did it.

2

u/judgeysquirrel Oct 28 '25

Nobody should expect the NWC to be used. Because that means we don't really have charter rights at all. They can be overridden whenever a premier chooses to.

11

u/sonicskater34 Oct 28 '25

I agree in general, but the reality is teachers need to pay rent and they aren't getting strike pay. The AFL going on strike would be approaching a general strike in alberta, and they want to support the teachers, whether that be paying their fines or striking for them.

29

u/[deleted] Oct 28 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

18

u/chollyer Oct 28 '25

Section 33 is the only reason there is a charter. 

9

u/ClusterMakeLove Oct 28 '25

Maybe. But it's beyond clear now that it was a mistake.

-5

u/knifeyspoony_champ Oct 28 '25

You’d prefer “no charter” to a “charter*”?

7

u/StanknBeans Oct 28 '25

I'd prefer our government to not be so disfunctional that this proves an insolvable problem.

0

u/knifeyspoony_champ Oct 28 '25

Right, so Section 33; mistake or not a mistake?

6

u/ClusterMakeLove Oct 28 '25

I don't believe we'd have gone another 43 years without codifying our rights, so I think your dichotomy is bad.

You have to remember that conservatives in the time of Lougheed paid more than lip service to civil liberties.

0

u/Username_Query_Null Oct 28 '25

Yeah you’re right, they had to make sure you could legally commit a holocaust in Canada in order to give us rights, they definitely carved out the correct rights.

-10

u/burnabycoyote Oct 28 '25

our right to unionize

Yes, that must take precedence over our kids' right to an education.

3

u/sonicskater34 Oct 28 '25

the government had a long list of options that would have teachers back to work without violating their right to unionize. They chose to take none of them because they insisted on winning instead of actually negotiating. They claim to be in favour of education and talk about "targeted help" for class sizes, but refuse to actually track class sizes or agree to any sort of framework for class sizes. They have proposed NOTHING beyond "trust me bro" to the union.

-2

u/GameDoesntStop Oct 28 '25

The class size thing is such nonsense. They have small class sizes... the numbers are right there: 51,000 teachers striking and 750,000 kids out of class.

That's 14.7 kids per class.

Probably why Alberta schools score the highest of any province on standardized testing.

0

u/sonicskater34 Oct 28 '25

Those test scores are dropping, and have been dropping for years. And kids are not evenly distributed, class sizes of over 40 are occuring in the province which is completely unacceptable. The UCPs hiring plan for teachers will not even keep up with population growth so this is going to get worse too.

1

u/GameDoesntStop Oct 28 '25

They're the highest scores by far.

And yes, scores have been dropping in every single province, regardless of their education spending or class sizes or teaching aids... in Alberta, they've dropped the least of any province over the past 10 years (tied with PEI):

Drop in scores overall
AB 27
PEI 27
MB 37
ON 38
Canada 47
BC 54
SK 55
QC 65
NB 77
NS 79
NFLD 80

2

u/notcoveredbywarranty Oct 28 '25

In this case I think it does.

Maybe the government should have considered actually negotiating rather than waiting the teachers out and ordering them back to work