‘Years of neglect’ led to teachers voting down deal: union president

Jason Schilling on Alberta Primetime, Oct 1, 2025.

Alberta Teachers’ Association president Jason Schilling joins Michael Higgins to discuss teachers’ overwhelming rejection of the latest contract offer from the province.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Michael Higgins: What are your members saying about the outcome of the vote and why they rejected it?

Jason Schilling: They’re not seeing concrete and meaningful measures that are going to address the concerns that they have within their classrooms.

They have oversized classes. They cannot meet the needs of all their students in terms of the resources that they have available to them, and they’re still looking to seek a salary that is recognizing the increased workload that they’ve had and the loss of purchasing power that they’ve had to inflation over the last decade. They’ve only had a 5.75-per cent increase, and we know inflation has been close to 30 (per cent). Those are some of the main drivers of why you saw members reject the last memorandum of agreement at such a high rate.

MH: It’s been reported the deal was presented to members in a neutral fashion, with no lobbying to vote one way or the other. Why not urge members to vote yes?

JS: Because what you saw there was what government was willing to do to address the issues that teachers had put forward. For instance, around classroom size and complexity, we had originally put forward something like a student teacher ratio, with a formula that would look at the complexity of students that we have within our classrooms. So teachers had the resources and the number of students that they could have in there to do their jobs well and help every student. Those were all rejected by government.

This was what we could get from government to address that, and we wanted to put it towards our members so that they had input on their future. Teachers don’t have a lot of input around their jobs, and so we wanted to make sure that they their voices were heard through this process.

MH: Where would teachers have been left had they said yes?

JS: We would have had a collective agreement, and then we would have moved forward with what was stated in there.

MH: What would that have left the classroom looking like?

JS: Well, that’s the things that teachers are saying. [The province says] we’re going to hire 3,000 teachers, which we agree we need more teachers in the system. But 3,000 teachers over three years – so 1,000 teachers per year - is a drop in the bucket of what we need right now.

Public education has been so underfunded for so many years that we’re in a crisis situation right now, and teachers are ringing the alarm — but the government doesn’t want to seem to answer it.

MH: It feels like we’re in a standoff situation. To what degree is the ball now in your court to get this process rolling again?

JS: I find this ball analogy interesting, because there’s two parties at the bargaining table that both need to sit down and have a conversation. But teachers have rejected a deal twice now, and have been very clear about what they expect to see in terms of addressing the needs within their classrooms.

I’ve heard government say, ‘We’re confused; what do teachers want?’ I think often a rejection of a memorandum of agreement is clarity. What was presented there ... is not good enough for teachers, and they need to see government step up to do more.

We can’t be the least funded in all of Canada for 10 years and look at the consequences of that within our classrooms and expect that something is going to fix that right away; that teachers are just going to say, okay, well, status quo was fine. It’s not. It’s not enough for them.

MH: So is it inevitable a strike will happen?

JS: I would say yes. Teachers are willing to take this step, to go on strike, and they recognize fully the disruption it causes for families and for students and for learning, but they’re willing to take this step. Because they believe that they need more. They’re standing up for themselves. They’re standing up for their students. They’re standing up for public education, and they’re willing to take the step forward in order to get government to finally listen and make genuine movement towards the things that they need to see.

MH: What do you make of the supports government is preparing to offer parents of students 12 and under?

JS: $150 a week tells me they’re willing to pay parents child-care costs instead of sitting down at the table and having a conversation. It makes me question the urgency of what you saw the premier saying. We’ve got a couple days, and hopefully they’ll come to the table. But they’ve already had this plan in place.

They don’t just create a plan like they announced yesterday overnight, so they’ve had plans in place. It makes me wonder if they are legitimately interested in sitting down and having a conversation about coming to a solution and getting to a settlement here.

MH: What’s the mood of your membership?

JS: Teachers and my colleagues as I’ve talked to them across the province, I’ve never seen them in a state of frustration and anger. Right now, they’re frustrated with the state of their classrooms and how they can’t meet the needs of their students. They’re tired of watching kids fall through the cracks, and they feel disrespected by this government for years of neglect.

Their voices are not heard on curriculum redevelopment. They have no say on mandatory assessments that are being done in kindergarten in grades one to three. They have no say on all sorts of things that are added there. Then you add this summer a book ban, and then you add legislation on pronoun use — the teachers don’t want to out kids. Then the fairness in sport legislation for girls over 12 to play sports. You add all these little disrespects over time, and the membership is feeling hurt by all of it, and they are frustrated, and rightfully so.

MH: What is your message to the Alberta government to get these this fixed?

JS: The government has caused this issue. This is a mess that they created by this chronic underfunding, and they still think that people will just do more with less. That’s just simply not going to work this time. Teachers have been told time and time again, we’ll get you next time. Well, that time has arrived.