Edmonton Public School teachers agree to authorize strike vote

Teachers at Edmonton Public Schools have voted 97 per cent in favour of authorizing the Alberta Teacher's Association (ATA) to request a government-supervised strike vote.

Teachers at Edmonton Public Schools have voted 97 per cent in favour of authorizing the Alberta Teacher's Association (ATA) to request a government-supervised strike vote.

The vote came Sunday after a proposal by a third-party mediator to settle local negotiations was rejected.

ATA says 91 per cent of teachers who attended the meeting on Sunday were opposed to the mediator's recommendations.

"Yesterday’s turnout of support for the bargaining team sends a very strong message to the school division," said Heather Quinn, president of Edmonton Public Teachers' Local No. 37. "When the board has the ability to improve working conditions, like they do with online teachers, and refuses to do so, teachers feel undervalued. Last night our members indicated that we stand united with them."

Quinn said the mediator's recommendations didn't offer enough improvements for teachers working in online learning or those teaching summer and night school.

"The position of the school division to treat different types of teacher work as less valuable than others is seen by teachers as being quite disrespectful," the ATA wrote in a Monday news release.

Quinn says teachers are still hopeful for a negotiated settlement and want to get back to the bargaining table to fight for further improvement.