Teachers and school boards reaching collective agreements
Memorandum of Agreement deadline spurs on negotiationsEdmonton – With an eye on the January 31, 2008 deadline, significant progress is being made to have collective agreements in place between the 62 publicly elected school boards and the local teachers’ bargaining units of the Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA). This is a key condition in the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the government and the ATA announced on November 15, 2007 to address the $2.1-billion teachers’ pre-1992 unfunded pension liability.
Eight school boards and ATA locals have ratified their memoranda of agreements. They are Calgary School District No. 19, Elk Island Public Schools Regional Division No. 14, Greater St. Albert Catholic Regional Division No. 29, Holy Family Catholic Regional Division No. 37, Lethbridge School District No. 51, Medicine Hat School District No. 76, Northern Lights School Division No. 69 and Northwest Francophone Education Region No. 1.
To date, 21 school boards and their teachers have achieved local memoranda of agreement, with dates for ratification set in the near future: Battle River Regional Division No. 31, Black Gold Regional Division No. 18, Calgary Roman Catholic Separate School District No. 1, Clearview School Division No. 71, East Central Catholic Regional Division No. 16, Edmonton Catholic Separate School District No. 7, Edmonton School District No. 7, Fort McMurray Catholic Board of Education No. 32, Fort McMurray Public School District No. 2833, Greater North Central Francophone Education Region No. 2, High Prairie School Division No. 48, Horizon School Division No. 67, Living Waters Catholic Regional Division No. 42, Palliser Regional Division No. 26, Parkland School Division No. 70, Peace River School Division No. 10, Red Deer Catholic Regional Division No. 39, St. Albert Protestant Separate School District No. 6, Sturgeon School Division No. 24, Westwind School Division No. 9 and Wolf Creek School Division No. 72.
This brings the total number of memoranda of agreements to 29 to date.
Education Minister Ron Liepert applauded those school boards and ATA locals who have reached agreements. The Minister added, “school boards and the ATA locals know that there is much at stake here for our students and teachers, and achieving five years of labour peace across the province bodes well for the future of education in Alberta. I remain confident that 62 agreements will be arrived at by the January 31 deadline.”
To provide extra assistance, mediation services are available at the request of either party.
More information on the agreement and a copy of the Government-ATA MOA are posted on the Alberta Education website at: www.education.alberta.ca
Strengthening the education system is an important part of Premier Stelmach’s plan to secure Alberta’s future by building communities, greening our growth and creating opportunity.
