Fangs pulled on Bill 12 ...
Teachers move toward fair settlement

By Jim Selby, AFL Staff

[Edmonton] The Alberta Teachers Association (ATA) has won an important victory in its current dispute with the Alberta government. In exchange for dropping any legal challenge to the controversial Bill 12 (the Education Services Settlement Act), and for encouraging teachers to begin providing voluntary services again, the ATA has gained major concessions from the government and school boards.

"The heart of the agreement involves assurances of a fairer arbitration process, and payment by the government of teachers’ portion of the unfunded pension liability for the coming year," said ATA President Larry Booi.

In a memorandum of agreement signed by the ATA, the Government of Alberta and the Alberta School Boards Association on April 18, 2002, the parties agreed to terms which neutralize much of the blatantly unfair arbitration provisions of Bill 12.

Working conditions – including teacher-pupil ratios, class size and other classroom conditions may now be brought in front of the Bill 12 tribunal for consideration in any salary award. Further, even though such matters may not be part of an award, the various school boards and ATA locals may sign letters of understanding that will govern these issues now, and letters of intent that will roll such "side deals" into collective agreements that come into force following the expiration of Bill 12 on August 31, 2003.

According to Booi, "the ATA can introduce new items [outside of collective agreements] in response to the loss of working conditions contract provisions resulting from the ESSA [Bill 12].

The agreement also opens the door to higher wage increases for teachers by blunting the Bill 12 provision that no tribunal award may cause a school board to run a deficit or to increase an existing deficit. Now, the tribunal need only be satisfied that there may be a potential means by which a board might implement an award that would otherwise contravene Bill 12.

This opens the door to tribunal awards matching the 12 per cent increases already agreed to by some boards outside of Bill 12. According to Alberta Federation of Labour President Les Steel, that needs to be done in order to preserve fairness. "You simply can’t have a tribunal awarding substantially lower increases to teachers that fall within its purview than teachers outside of the process have already gained," said Steel.

The agreement explicitly blocks the government from altering the structure or role of the Alberta Teachers Association without consulting with the ATA first. "Given the hidden threat of a full legislative attack on the ATA that has been in the background throughout this dispute," said Steel, "this is a very important gain by the teachers."

Finally, the government agreed to consult with the ATA and ASBA prior to setting out the composition and terms of reference of its promised Education Review Commission and to refrain from any legislation dealing with class size, teacher-pupil ratios or work time until that Commission completes its work.

Booi called the agreement "an important turning point and a substantial move in the right direction." He credited the courage, commitment and active support of teachers for the new deal.

According to Les Steel, the teachers have made a major step towards a just contract. "The teachers have won a lot with this agreement, "he said. "But they had to give up their legal challenge of this rotten legislation, so the government won a substantial concession as well.

As a result of the agreement, the Alberta Federation of Labour has put its own legal challenge of Bill 12 on hold.