Alberta teachers say fight just begun but will follow the law in back-to-work bill

EDMONTON — The union for Alberta’s teachers says the province using the Charter’s notwithstanding clause to end their strike is a gross abuse of power — but says it will follow the law.

The Alberta Teachers’ Association, in a statement issued early Tuesday morning, said it “has taken the position that it will pursue all legal alternatives to challenge Bill 2’s egregious assault on the collective bargaining rights of teachers and, by extension, all workers.”

It added, “In this effort, we anticipate that we will be supported by organized labour, civil society and ordinary citizens.

“This fight has just begun.”

The statement was issued just before members of Premier Danielle Smith’s United Conservative governing caucus used their majority in the legislature to pass the bill. The caucus put time limits on debate to get the entire bill passed through multiple debate stages in just six and a half hours.

The bill passed third and final reading at 2 a.m. Tuesday to shouts of “Shame!” from opponents.

Under the bill, the Alberta Teachers’ Association and its members face hefty fines if they defy the back-to-work order: up to $500 a day for individuals and $500,000 a day for the union.

During debate, Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides told the house the government faced an “undeniable moral imperative” to stop a three-week strike that was harming students’ social and educational development.

“This strike has moved beyond the state of inconvenience,” Nicolaides told the house.

Smith was not in the house for the introduction or the passage of the bill, having left earlier Monday evening on a trade mission to Saudi Arabia and other destinations in the Middle East.

The Opposition NDP voted against the bill, calling the use of the notwithstanding clause an authoritarian abuse of power from a government that professes to honour freedom and liberty.

NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi said the government chose to go “nuclear” to get out of the problems in public education it had created.

“Albertans will be forgiven for asking themselves, ‘Who’s next?'” he said. “What rights does this premier want to defend and which ones is she willing to trample over and for whom?”

The move puts Smith’s government on a potential collision course with the Common Front, a coalition of more than 350,000 workers in other provincial unions. The Common Front has promised an “unprecedented response” if the government invoked the clause to override teachers’ constitutional rights to assemble.

Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour and the point person for the Common Front, told reporters Monday they are looking at all options, including a strike.

Later Monday night, in a series of posts on social media, McGowan said meetings are happening Tuesday and an announcement is coming Wednesday.

“My message to Alberta teachers is simple: you will not stand alone,” McGowan wrote.

“All other Alberta unions will meet to finalize a plan for unprecedented collective action. The executive council of the Canadian Labour Congress will also meet in (an) emergency session.”

McGowan added, “(Labour Congress) president Bea Bruske will fly to Alberta for our press conference on Wednesday to pledge the support of the entire labour movement.

“My message to Danielle Smith is also simply: you’re the bully going after workers’ rights and democracy. We will stand up to the bully.”

McGowan said other provincial labour federations are also collecting funds to build a war chest to pay potential fines levied for an illegal strike.

The Alberta Teachers’ Association, in its statement, agreed that unions are fundamentally undermined if governments feel free to invoke the notwithstanding clause in labour disputes.

“This legislation is a gross violation of the foundational principles of collective bargaining and the ability of workers to organize and bargain collectively,” it said.

“Rights are indivisible. An attack on teachers’ right to free association is an attack on all workers and sets a precedent for this government to trample on other fundamental freedoms and individual rights.”

There’s political precedent for using the notwithstanding clause in an attempt to end labour action.

In 2022, Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government used it to prevent a court challenge to a bill stopping 55,000 school support workers from going on strike.

They walked off the job on the day the legislation went into effect, shutting down thousands of schools. But public outcry prompted the province to repeal it.

Before the bill was introduced Monday, Smith told reporters the size of the strike – the largest in Alberta history — and the need for ongoing labour stability in schools required the clause, which overrides Charter rights for up to five years.

The strike has already affected the more than 740,000 students out of schools since it began Oct. 6.

The bill imposes a collective bargaining agreement previously put forward by the union and the province, which rank-and-file teachers overwhelmingly rejected in a vote. Teachers would receive a 12 per cent wage hike over four years, with a promise to hire 3,000 more teachers and 1,500 more educational assistants.

The bill also overrides protections in the Alberta Bill of Rights and the Alberta Human Rights Act.

The teachers from public, separate and francophone schools walked off the job after the two sides failed to find common ground, mainly on the issue of class sizes and complexity. The union called for immediate action on overcrowded classrooms and on the lack of supports for students who need specialized care.

Smith has said the issues can’t be solved with a one-size-fits-all approach at the bargaining table, but require a flexible, collaborative approach.

On Monday, she committed to collecting and publicly reporting data on classroom sizes – a measure abandoned by the United Conservatives under former premier Jason Kenney – and to forming a special panel on classroom complexity.

In the Tuesday statement, the teachers’ association said, “We must be clear: although this legislation might end the strike and lift the lockout, it does not end the underfunding and deterioration of teaching and learning conditions.

“Our schools will not be better for it.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 28, 2025.