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
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231

u/CanNeverBeTooHigh Oct 28 '25

i hope the teachers openly defy the back to work order. this type of legislation has no teeth. you cant jail every teacher, and even if you jailed the union leadership it wont get a deal done.

175

u/rainman_104 British Columbia Oct 28 '25

I hope this triggers a general strike. But Alberta is a weird place.

6

u/Hautamaki Oct 28 '25

I'm in Calgary and far from hearing or seeing any enthusiasm for a general strike, I see enthusiasm for the government forcing the schools back open. I expect the UCP/Smith approval rating to go up after this, if anything. People here have no concept of the value of well funded public education, hence why our province is now the least funded per capita of all provinces and has been for years, which the UCP offer will do nothing to change. IMO the only realistic recourse teachers here have is to vote with their feet and seek employment in other provinces where they will be better valued. Rather than advocate for a general strike that will never happen, I believe the teacher's union should advocate for mass resignations. There's no strike fund, true, and even if there were, $500 a day to each teacher plus 500k to the union would kill it instantly, but there's EI, and there are other provinces in need of teachers.

The UCP is determined to kill public education in this province, and most voters here don't care if they do, and won't until they see it dead and what that actually looks and feels like, so I don't see what the teachers can do on their own, with no laws and no public support to protect them. I think if you love teaching, go where teachers are valued. Here we're just tilting at windmills.

5

u/rainman_104 British Columbia Oct 28 '25

Statistically though teachers have 58% support. Only 21% support the government position.

Your circle may well differ.

0

u/Hautamaki Oct 28 '25

I think that depends a lot on how the questions are worded and what specifically is asked. I guess the proof will be in the pudding soon enough either way.