Palliser School Division teachers have ratified a mediator’s recommended terms of settlement to conclude local bargaining with the division.
At a virtual meeting earlier this week, teachers voted 64 per cent in favour of the recommendations, thereby avoiding the need for any labour action.
Local Palliser Alberta Teachers’ Association President Natalie Townshend says this was a challenging and protracted round of bargaining. “We are relieved an agreement could be concluded without interruption to schools, but the school division has some work to do to repair relations with its teachers. The local is prepared to work collaboratively with the board towards this.”
The ATA has been advised the employer has also ratified the mediator’s recommended terms for settlement.
Palliser was the last of 61 school divisions to reach agreement for the current term of bargaining, which extends back to September 2020.
Collective bargaining for teachers in Alberta is a two-phase process where matters of significant cost and broad impact are negotiated at a central table, followed by local negotiations between individual school divisions and ATA bargaining units on other more locally specific matters.
Palliser School Division employs approximately 700 contracted and substitute teachers in public schools in Coalhurst, Coaldale, Picture Butte, Vulcan and surrounding areas, as well as 17 Hutterian colony schools and 10 alternative schools in Calgary.